Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Luxury hotels lure millennials with strawberries

Walkerhill Hotels & Resorts is offering a strawberry dessert buffet, Very Berry Strawberry, under the concept of an amusement park until April. 26. / Courtesy of Walkerhill Hotels & ResortsBy Jun Ji-hyeAfter celebrating Christmas and New Year's Day with various events and promotions, luxury hotels here are now going all out to win the hearts and minds of visitors with strawberry buffets and strawberry-themed afternoon tea sets.Every January, hotels become a battlefield of strawberries as the peak of the strawberry season occurs in midwinter in Korea. The popularity of photogenic strawberry buffets and afternoon tea sets is growing especially among millennials, the generation born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s, who tend to place a value on “Instagrammable” experiences. Instagrammable is a neologism referring to photos that are worth posting on Instagram to share memorable moments with friends. Hotels' strawberry-themed events that are cheaper than regular dinners and attract young people who tend to pursue “small luxuries” which are expens

Jan 16, 2020

Luxury hotels lure millennials with strawberries

Pengsoo promotes 'industrial tourism' spots

Pengsoo feeds cows during his recent visit to Anseong Farmland in Gyeonggi Province in this photo provided by the Korea Tourism Organization, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization By Jun Ji-hyeThe Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has joined hands with Pengsoo, an outspoken penguin character that has become a YouTube star, to promote “industrial tourism” spots, seeking to ride on the popularity of the character and attract more visitors, the KTO said Wednesday. Pengsoo, owned by educational TV station EBS, recently visited Anseong Farmland in Gyeonggi Province that offers visitors a chance to enjoy various experience programs related to agricultural and dairy industries. During the visit, Pengsoo participated in activities such as feeding cows, chasing sheep and making cheese.Anseong Farmland is one of the 20 industrial tourism spots worth visiting, selected last year by the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, and the KTO.The locations showing the n

Jan 15, 2020By Jun Ji-hye

Pengsoo promotes 'industrial tourism' spots

Hawaii was most popular honeymoon destination in 2019

Waikiki beach in Honolulu of Hawaii / Courtesy of HanaTourBy Jun Ji-hyeAn increasing number of newlyweds here are choosing to travel far when going on a honeymoon, opting to visit Hawaii or European countries rather than nearby Southeast Asian nations, according to a local travel agency.HanaTour, the nation's largest travel agency, has recently released its analysis result of honeymooners who have bought group tour programs offered by the company for the last five years.Hawaii was the most popular destination last year, with 19.6 percent of honeymooners choosing it, while European countries came in second at 16.2 percent. In 2015, the U.S. resort island ranked second at 15.1 percent in terms of popularity, after Phuket.But Hawaii reached the top spot in 2016, and has since maintained its popularity. European nations have also enhanced their presence as honeymoon destinations on the back of the growing popularity of Eastern European cities such as Prague in the Czech Republic.On the other hand, vacation spots at Southeast Asian nations have been falling in popularity as honeymoon dest

Jan 9, 2020

'For ticket home'

People wait in a long line at Suseo Station in southern Seoul, Thursday, to purchase bullet train tickets to their hometowns to visit family members and relatives during the Lunar New Year holiday, which runs from Jan. 23 through 27. / Yonhap

Jan 9, 2020By Jun Ji-hye

Hotels rolling out various Lunar New Year packages

By Jun Ji-hyeHotels have been cited as one of the best places to enjoy time off without leaving the city in recent years, as evidenced by a neologism “hocance” ― a combination of hotel and vacance (the French word for vacation) ― meaning spending a vacation in a local hotel.Along with hocance, another phenomenon is growing here for Seollal, or the Lunar New Year, as an increasing number of people want to have a rest and relieve their stress during the traditional holiday, instead of spending it in a traditional way such as visiting their hometown to spend time with relatives, which sometimes involves food preparations and many hours of traveling due to a serious traffic congestion on the highways.Riding on these two trends, local hotels have been rushing to release a variety of special packages and events for the Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 23 through Jan. 27 so guests can make their holiday an extra special one.Lotte Hotel Lotte Hotel is offering various package products at its 16 outlets nationwide, featuring luxurious experiences and memorable leisure activitie

Jan 9, 2020By Jun Ji-hye

Incheon cruise terminal grappling with THAAD aftermath

The Incheon Port International Cruise Terminal opened in April last year, but has shown lackluster performance due to the lasting aftermath of the THAAD deployment. / Courtesy of Incheon Port AuthorityBy Jun Ji-hyeThe nation's largest cruise terminal located in the city of Incheon has continued to suffer losses as it has hosted fewer ships and passengers than initially expected in the lasting aftermath of China's economic retaliation over Korea's deployment of the U.S. missile defense system, the operator of the terminal said Wednesday.The disappointing performance is taken seriously in the industry, given that the government poured more than 100 billion won ($85 million) over five years to construct the two-story terminal exclusively for cruise ships with a space of 7,364 square meters in the city's international business district of Songdo. The Incheon Port International Cruise Terminal officially opened in April 2019. With the opening of the terminal, the government aimed to attract foreign cruise passengers, particularly Chinese travelers, and boost the underdeveloped domestic in

Jan 8, 2020

Incheon cruise terminal grappling with THAAD aftermath

5,000 Chinese visit Korea on incentive trip

A group of Chinese tourists arrive at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, in this Sep. 23, 2019 file photo. Some 5,000 employees of a Chinese health food company have arrived in Korea on an incentive trip, the Korea Tourism Organization said Tuesday. /Korea Times photo by Park Hyung-kiBy Bahk Eun-jiMore than 5,000 employees of a Chinese health food company have arrived in Korea on an incentive trip, the largest number since the mainland restricted group travel to South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, the state-run tourism promotion agency said Tuesday.According to the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), the employees of Yi Yong Tang began a six-day trip to various tourist attractions in Seoul and Incheon. “This trip by the Chinese firm marked the largest one as a company's incentive travel trip since 2017,” a KTO official said. The Chinese tourists are also scheduled to attend a special concert by K-pop singers Hwang Chi-yeol and Lee Jung-hyun in Incheon on Thursday. Yi Yong Tang, based in Shenyang, China's Liaoning Province, distributes and manufactures health

Jan 7, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji

5,000 Chinese visit Korea on incentive trip

Where did Koreans travel last year?

Jeju Island remains the top tourist destination for Koreans. / Courtesy of KayakJeju most-searched destination; Chinese cities gaining favorBy Kang Seung-wooAs 2019 is now in the history books, it might be the right time to look back on tourist destinations that Koreans loved and those emerging as new attractions luring travelers last year.Global travel search engine Kayak recently released the trends of vacation spots that Koreans were interested in in 2019 based on users' searches on the website.Favorite placesJeju Island topped the list as the most-clicked destination by Koreans on the Kayak website in 2019, followed by Japan's Osaka and Vietnam's Da Nang. Other Japanese cities also drew interest from Koreans, as evidenced by Tokyo and Fukuoka ranking fourth and seventh, respectively. However, they lost favor in the second half of the year in the wake of the trade restriction-triggered anti-Japan boycott campaign, under which Koreans opted not to travel to Japan. For example, Osaka was the most-searched destination from January to April, but since then, it barely made the top six.

Jan 1, 2020By Kang Seung-woo

Travel activity apps refuse cancellation, refund

By Kim RahnComplaints are growing from consumers that many tickets and services reserved on tourist activity apps are not cancelled or refunded, according to the Korea Consumer Agency, Friday. / gettyimagesbankCancellation or refunds are not available for many tourist programs purchased via tourist activity reservation apps, drawing complaints from travelers, a consumer agency said, Friday.The Korea Consumer Agency said it received 402 complaints regarding programs sold at Myrealtrip, Waug, KKday and Klook between 2016 and June this year.These apps provide tickets and reservations to tourist activities and services, mostly in other countries, for individual travelers, such as theme park tickets, public transportation passes, or guided tours. Of the complaints, 40.9 percent were about refusal to cancel or refund the purchased services, followed by 28.3 percent in which the consumers were unable to use the reserved programs fully. In one such case, a man reserved a Hong Kong bus ticket for 75,000 won. Up arrival at the designated pick-up area, he could not use the ticket on the day he

Dec 27, 2019By Kim Rahn

Travel activity apps refuse cancellation, refund

Cities of light: winter escape to Poland

Residents and tourists shop at Wroclaw Christmas Market on Saint Nicholas Day, Dec. 6.  Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoonThe best urban illuminations are found at sub-zero temperatures By Lee Suh-yoonPOLAND ― Wet, freezing and mostly dark, winter in Poland poses challenging conditions for travelers. The sun sets around 3:30 p.m., after which layers of clothes provide little defense from the stinging cold. Yet winter is the best time to enjoy urban illuminations in Polish cities. Whole squares and streets are decked with Christmas lights from early December. But the cold is a distant worry once you step under the lights and join the buoyant crowds with a mug of mulled beer.Christmas, neon lights in Wroclaw The best place to soak in these festive lights is Wroclaw Christmas Market, which spans across two main squares and streets in the Old Town. On Saint Nicholas Day, Dec. 6, a stage event is held to light up a huge Christmas tree at the center of the Market Square. The Old Town Christmas market is not the only place where you can find impressive illuminations. An economic hub reb

Dec 25, 2019

Travel & Food