Domestic travel key to boosting tour industry
By Lee Hyo-sik
Korea has been promoting the tourism industry as one of its future growth engines, placing top priority on attracting foreign tourists to generate new sources of income and strengthen the competitiveness of the local sector.
The nation has been largely successful in drawing foreign travelers, mostly from China, Japan and other Asian countries in recent years, on the back of the growing popularity of Korean pop culture, an improving international image and the weakening of the Korean won. They spend billions of dollars here each year not only to eat, sleep and visit tourist spots, but also to purchase cosmetics and other merchandise, providing a much-needed boost to Korea’s tourism and retail industry.
However, with millions of Koreans heading overseas for leisure and spending billions of dollars each year in foreign countries, it has realized that without encouraging Koreans to travel domestically, it will be difficult for Korea to become a truly competitive and advanced tourism destination.
Against this backdrop, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and o
Aug 19, 2010By Lee Hyo-sik