Tourism Ministry 'Boom-up' Japanese Market Linked to Pyeongchang Winter Olympics
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The Korea Tourism Organization will hold the "2017 Korean Culture and Tourism Competition in Japan" in Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka, Japan from the 18th to the 24th. The plan is to promote the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, which is coming up in February next year, and link it to a boom in Korean tourism.
With the recent decline in Chinese tourists visiting Korea, expectations for the second market in Japan are rising amid the focus on market diversification strategies, and the number of Japanese tourists visited Korea by 614,372 in the first three months of this year, up 21.5% from the same period last year. However, due to the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula, the event was held to overcome the spread of negative public opinion in Japan. In 2016, there were about 2.29 million Japanese tourists visiting Korea.
The Korea Tourism Organization plans to form a tour promotion group of more than 100 people, including Gangwon Province, the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, the Korea Travel Association, travel industry presidents, tourism venture companies, and resort companies, and hold a series of events including the opening ceremony of the Haneda Airport Korean Tourism Promotion Center, the "Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Successful Korean Tourism Night," the "KCON 2017-linked Korean Tourism Promotion," and the "Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Supporters Launch Ceremony."
At 12 p.m. on the 18th, the opening ceremony of the Korea Tourism Promotion Center will be held on the fourth floor of the international terminal of Haneda Airport. The project began with the idea of a joint project between Gimpo Airport and Haneda Airport in Japan to increase tourism exchanges between the two countries. In Korea, Gangwon Province, the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, the Korea Airport Corporation, and the Visit Korea Committee will jointly operate a promotion center to promote Korean tourism with the main theme of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics over the next two months, including the Korea Tourism Organization.
At 6 p.m. that day, the "Korean Tourism Night Wishing for the Success of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics" event will be held at the Palais Hotel in Tokyo. The event, which will be held for about 200 opinion leaders, including Japanese travel agencies and media, will introduce the preparations for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and Gangwon Province's tourism charm, and discuss the promotion of friendship and tourism exchanges between Korea and Japan.
At the "KCON 2017 Japan," a Hallyu event hosted by CJ E&M at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture for three days from the 19th to the 21st, a large-scale Korean tourism promotion booth will be operated for 45,000 Japanese consumers. The Korean tourism promotion booth will showcase not only the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Gangwon Province, but also various Korean attractions such as Ati Rikkong, Yacht Ride, and MUSICKING, medical tourism, Korean traditional food, and Korean traditional music to young Korean Wave fans visiting the venue.
On the 22nd, the "Korea Travel Mart" event will be held in Osaka, and officials from 10 local governments and the travel industry will participate to hold business consultations and Korean tourism briefing sessions for Japanese travel agencies. Subsequently, in Fukuoka on the 24th, officials from seven local governments in the southern part of Korea and tourism venture companies will attend a briefing session for the local travel industry.
Lee Hak-joo, head of the Japan team at the Korea Tourism Organization, explained, "We look forward to the boom through the massive promotion of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics to be held in February next year and the restoration of the atmosphere in Korea through this event."
By Cho Yong Chol
