By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff reporter
Seoul Metropolitan Government's (SMG) pavilion at the Expo 2010 Shanghai is attracting numerous visitors due to its state-of-the-art technology depicting the capital's culture and information technology (IT) booths.
Beginning May 1, around 10,000 people have visited the pavilion daily so far. "This exceeds our expectation of around 2,500 to 3,000," said Yoon Young-seok of the city's global marketing division.
Under the theme of "Seoul Culturenomics and IT," a 14.5 meters by 4 meters LED screen shows video clips of tourist attractions in Seoul and images of the city's future.
"Taking composite photographs with Korean stars and portraits drawn by robots are popular contents of the Seoul pavilion," Yoon said.
The pavilion consists of five zones - Hi Seoul, Touring Seoul, Seoul Plaza, Seoul Sky and Seoul Renaissance.
The "Hi Seoul" zone features Seoul's symbolic attractions, including Mt. Namsan, Seoul Fortress and Sungnyemun through digital art. "Touring Seoul" displays photos of tourism activities such as shopping, dining, entertainment, nature, fashion and nightlife.
"Seoul Plaza" zone provides visitors with the opportunity to search through Seoul tourism information using a touch-screen kiosk. Robot painters producing portraits of guests are also situated in this zone.
"I loved the interactive ideas of the Seoul pavilion. It is impressive that computer robots paint my portrait just like an oil painting immediately," a Dutch visitor said.
Seoul City Day will be held on June 16, featuring a reproduction of Insa-dong and popular nonverbal performances "Nanta" and "Jump."
"We will present Seoul's dynamic and fun characteristics through cutting-edge technology until the Expo comes to an end in October," Yoon said. "We will convince all visitors to remember Seoul as a city worth visiting and continue marketing its image to attract more international tourists."