Like his predecessor, President-elect Lee Myung-bak is going to focus government energy on promoting tourism:
President-elect Lee Myung-bak said Monday South Korea’s snowballing tourism deficit should not be neglected any longer, urging industry executives to redouble efforts to attract foreign tourists.
Lee said his incoming government is willing to enforce drastic deregulation and taxation reform to foster tourism as one of the nation’s strategic growth industries, along with information technology and environment.
"I’ve heard South Korea sustained a deficit of $10 billion in tourism trade last year. Increasing numbers of Koreans go abroad, but the number of visiting foreigners seems to stagnate," Lee said during his meeting with tourism industry representatives in Seoul.  [...]
In 2007, about 6.4 million foreign tourists visited South Korea, marking a year-on-year rise of 4 percent, while an estimated 13 million Koreans went abroad, according to government figures. [Yonhap]
So how does President Lee propose to attract tourists? With his canal of course:
Lee, who is to be sworn in on Feb. 25, has said that his cross-country waterway project will help boost tourism and have beneficial effects in logistics, balanced regional development and employment.
I can’t imagine this canal is going to draw any additional tourists. People don’t go to Panama to travel down a canal, so they sure aren’t going to come to Korea either. For the life of me I can’t understand why Korea doesn’t focus on selling its historical culture and outdoors to potential tourists? Korea has beautiful mountains and countryside once you get away from Seoul and an extremely interesting historical culture. People go to Japan to see its historical culture in places like Kyoto and Nara. Why not Korea as well?Â
However, no one knows this because of the MASH stigma still attached to the country which I think partly has to do with continuing North Korean threat as well as the government failing to launch a effective marketing campaign to promote the country. Marketing the country is more than just through commercials. The Japanese have been extremely effective in having Japan featured in a number of Hollywood movies and shows. When has Korea ever been featured in a Hollywood movie or show besides old movies related to the Korean War?Â
There are plenty of other things that can be done to attract tourists but the biggest thing in my opinion is marketing in order to change the nation’s image abroad.Â
Popularity: 3%
3:05 pm on February 5th, 2008 1
Wow. What do you know. He’s planning to improve tourism with deregulation and tax cuts. Didn’t see that one coming. I wonder how many OTHER things in Korea can be saved with deregulation and tax-cuts — it seems to be like tiger-balm to him, one solution for all Korea’s problems.
How far can we go with this?
I’m waiting to see this headline:
Marital Strife Averted: President Elect Lee MB Plans to Save His Marriage With Deregulation and Tax Cuts.
4:32 pm on February 5th, 2008 2
Half of the so called current “tourists” are English teachers on visa runs. Maybe they originally came to Korea legally but after being lied to and stolen from, as is the normal business customs of Koreans and Korea, many of them just do private lessons. If you take out all the “tourists” who are in Korea for work, you are left with a much smaller number.
Why would anybody visit Korea anyway? China and Japan are the source of Korean culture. Chinese temples and Japanese temples are beautiful (not to forget that China is the source of much of Japanese culture too). Also Chinese are much nicer then Koreans. Even if there is an occasional rude Chinese person, that is mitigated by how cheep China is compared to overpriced Korea. Japan is amazing too, but I don’t need to remind anybody of that. Japanese food is among the best in the world. Its a shame that Korea does such a poor job imitation Japan.
I think anybody who has traveled throughout Asia knows that Korea is simply the armpit of Asia. Tourists spending hard earned money to see a ditch? Are you insane? Just talk to anybody who has lived in Korea. They will give you honest advise and tell you not to go
5:43 pm on February 5th, 2008 3
So where are you from, Goodfood?
5:48 pm on February 5th, 2008 4
I just let a Bong Ki Moon!
12:22 am on February 6th, 2008 5
This is interesting. I would have always thought I would want to travel to a tourist destination that is exciting, beautiful, exotic and attractive. I guess traveling to a place where the sky is filled with yellow sand, dust, or smog for the majority of the time; everything left outside is constant filthy from dust, pollution is everywhere, people are always wearing a medical mask, drunks are stumbling out into the worlds worst traffic at six in the evening, people spit on the ground when you walk past them and it seems that every Korean is a thief or crook. (and this is at inchon airport). I would love to travel to a place and see pile after pile of raw human feces and urine in the fields where the rice I’ll be eating at lunch is cultivated. I don’t know of anyone from the US who has come to Korea on vacation (maybe to visit family).
Hey kids we’re going to South Korea on vacation
What’s a South Korea Daddy?
9:05 am on February 6th, 2008 6
Oh Daddy look, a dust storm……
12:56 pm on February 6th, 2008 7
Americans… ugly ugly Americans. Fat ugly Americans with penchant for stuffing yourselves to death (which is funny and good) and your ugly third world cities full of ugly grafitties written on walls and minute by minute drive by shootings, and where you walk 5 min. to find a massive million dollar mansion while right next door there’s the town ghetto where the poor young able bodied homeless people beg for money.
America the beautiful. Yes Korea spit on streets. What do Americans do? They spew dirty AIDS blood on the streets after the nightly shooting.
7:41 pm on February 6th, 2008 8
“Americans… ugly ugly Americans. Fat ugly Americans with penchant for stuffing yourselves to death (which is funny and good) ”
If you actually wondered what so called Korean-Americans think of their fellow Americans. Just look at the hatred Tom the gyopo from America spews forth. Tom is not alone. American Gyopos hate the USA. They hate America, they hate white people, god knows they hate blacks and Hispanic Americans. Zanichi are the same. So its not the fault of the beautiful nation they willingly emigrate too.
Thanks GOD, all Asians in the USA are not like gyopo Tom. I just wish gyops would wear a T-shirt that said, “Korean” so other good Asians are not called Korean.
(Peter-LOL, I think if you eat too much Kimuchi, you will have a lot of Bong ki moons-LOL)
8:32 pm on February 6th, 2008 9
Come on, Mr. President, pull your head out of the sand and think about why more and more Koreans have gone abroad since 2004, and you’ll be at the proximate cause.
12:40 am on February 7th, 2008 10
Now, I love riding my Harley all over this country, especially in Kangwon province but that’s the only thing that keeps me sane in this place. Turning and burning on 2 lane roads too fast in the mountains is what floats my boat and the Lord blessed Korea with lots of them but coming here for a tourist vacation? Surely you jest? What is there to see and do other than spending way too much money for nothing much of value? Sure Honey let’s go to Korea and spend lots of cash to go sing in a seedy No-rae-bang and hike on Seoraksan on National ajjuma hike day for two weeks.
For vacation I’d rather be in Thailand sitting on a beach where it’s warm year round, drink a Sing-Ha beer and smoke a big fat, ahem, doobie where my wife can speak the lingo franca. And then tear it up on my big loud bike… (after the ganja wears off of course). Or blasting around on the South Island in New Zealand or taking a slow cruise up the Gold Coast in Austrailia where I have a few friends that live in Brisbane.
7:13 am on February 7th, 2008 11
Mark, that was pretty funny.
wrenchbender,
Korea will never be a place for beach lovers but the country does have a lot of historical sites and beautiful mountains. In Australia and New Zealand they really market their hiking opportunities and many people travel to those countries simply to hike the popular trails.
Korea could do the same thing by designating something like the “Ocean to the DMZ Trail” or the “10 Great Walks of Korea” or something like that. Within these hikes the popular historical areas could be included. Korea’s historical sites is something unique about the country that it has over a place like New Zealand.
Likewise Korea would have to improve their trail system along with the infrastructure to get tourists to and from popular hiking areas. This all sounds cheesy but if it is marketed to the proper audience by running features in hiking and outdoors magazines for example it will draw additional tourists.
Korean War tourism is another area extremely lacking. You wouldn’t believe how many emails I get from people asking me how to get to and from different Korean War battle sites.
I have lots of ideas which I think will draw more tourists than digging a ditch through the middle of the country, but hey I could be wrong maybe people are interested in sailing through a big ditch.
10:11 am on February 7th, 2008 12
The problem with the (popular) hiking trails is that no matter where you go, you’re surrounded by crowds, crowds and more crowds.
11:14 am on February 7th, 2008 13
Not all of them are crowded. Around Seoul places like Pukhan mountain are crowded because of the proximity to Seoul. Sorak mountain at the main visitor entrance is crowded because of all the bus tours taking people there. However there are other trails on the mountain that do not begin at the main entrance.
If you hike up the Sorak Mountain from Osaek Hot Springs it is much less crowded and often you have the whole trail to yourself. If you hike up from Baekdamsa Temple on the parks north the trail is deserted. There are other trails on the mountain as well that are not crowded.
It is like this at other mountains in Korea as well. I hiked up Woraksan which I think is one of the prettiest mountains in Korea and probably only saw 20 people on the mountain that day.
I have been on popular trails in America, Australia, and New Zealand with more people on them than some of the trails in Korea. Another way to reduce the amount of people on given trail is with bookings and making people walk in one direction only which is what they do with popular trails in New Zealand. There are ways to avoid and control crowds and other nations have done it before, but I really think Korea can market itself as a hiking destination.
3:12 pm on February 7th, 2008 14
I went hiking a few times in Korea. I thought it would be fun, but boy was I wrong. First, there are tons and tons of people. I made the mistake of going on a weekend, and it was wall to wall people. Normally that is not so bad, but they were all yelling, smoking, drinking soju, and leaving their trash everywhere.
The “trail” was covered in litter like cigarette butts, empty soju bottles and various pieces of trash. Everywhere that there was a clearing, there would be groups of drunk Korean men swilling down bottle of soju with a smoke in their hand. I tried to peacefully walk up the mountain, but every few minutes, and at some points, every couple of seconds, some old woman or man came barreling into me shoving their way through the crowds.
As I got closer to the top, there would be more old men yelling YEEHAW everywhere. I guess these simpletons, thought they were in the alps, and not some miserable hill.
American, and Japanese hiking trails are so much nicer, they have rules that are followed, so everyone can have a good time. Canada has some of the most beautiful hiking in the world. I will never go hiking in Korea again, and I always try inform people as to the reality of Korean hiking.
7:41 am on February 8th, 2008 15
It sounds like you were walking somewhere adjacent to a major city. The way some of the areas near the major cities is polluted by hikers and picnickers is a definite problem that I have long complained about here at the ROK Drop.
However, away from the cities in the remoter areas as well as the national parks they are kept pretty clean. At Soraksan it has huge tourism traffic on the trails around the main park entrance and yet the authorities there keep the place clean from tourists leaving their garbage lying around. I actually saw an ajushi chew out some people picnicking along the trail at Soraksan and made them pick up all their trash. I just wish this attitude would extend across the country.
1:44 am on February 9th, 2008 16
Actually, any future for the Korean tourism begins and ends with increasing the numbers of Japanese and (especially) Chinese tourists. Korean tourism officials have got to realize this and stop wasting 70% of their marketing budget on western nations that will almost always disregard Korea on their way to the Great Wall or a beach in Thailand or Bali, if they even get across the Pacific to begin with.
This is not impossible. China is close, has a burgeoning middle class that might be interested in seeing another country not too far away, and quite simply has those massive numbers of people. You get even 0.01% of Chinese to visit, you’ve made a lot of money.
Promoting the hiking scene is a good idea for this: a lot of Chinese seem to have a similiar love of hiking small-medium mountains that Koreans do, and require less or no adustment to litter and rudeness, since both are epidemic in China.
2:53 pm on February 9th, 2008 17
[...] tourism in Korea has been a topic of interest this week at the ROK Drop, and now acccording to KBS, the "Korea Sparkling" tourism [...]