Korean tourism looks to attact Indonesian visitors

Korean tourism looks to attact Indonesian visitors

JAKARTA (JP): We get the snow and you get the beaches. That
was the deal Dal-Lyong Choi, the executive vice president for
overseas tourism marketing at the Korea National Tourism
Organization, offered.

South Korea, he said, promotes the beauty of the four separate
seasons, something tropical countries do not have, while
Indonesia boasts exotic beaches.

With this deal, South Korea is hoping for a flow of 150,000
tourists between the two countries this year, or an increase of
some 50 percent from last year.

The country is in the middle of its Visit Korea Year 2001, an
extensive campaign to boost its tourism.

"We feel that Indonesia is an important counterpart and one of
our potential markets," Dal-Lyong said here last week during the
one-day Korea Travel Mart and Korea Night 2001.

According to Dal-Lyong, in the first half of this year 32,000
Indonesian tourists visited Korea and some 52,000 Korean tourists
traveled to Indonesia.

"Both (figures) show an increase of more than 50 percent
compared to last year," he said.

Last year, the total number of Indonesian tourists visiting
South Korea was 60,000, or some 1.1 percent of the 5.3 million
tourists who traveled to the country.

Of the 5.3 million tourists, 45 percent were Japanese; 18.9
percent were from China and Southeast Asia, including Indonesia;
10 percent came from the United States; 8.5 percent from Europe;
1 percent from Australia and its surrounding area; and the rest
were from Africa.

"The main attraction is the snow. Many tourists come for the
skiing," Dal-Lyong said.

Next year, South Korea will be hosting two major sporting
events -- the World Cup and the Asian Games -- that are sure to
boost tourist numbers.

Meanwhile, the marketing manager of the Singapore office of
the Korea National Tourism Organization, Ivy Mak, said many
tourists were attracted to South Korea by the indoor pursuit of
shopping.

"We want to promote shopping. Seoul is a shopping destination.
We have inexpensive products like leather and other Korean brand-
name items," she said.

The Korea Travel Mart last week was the first of its kind here
and was attended by more than 20 South Korean travel operators,
half of them representing ski resorts.

Some 80 Indonesian travel agencies were also invited to the
exhibition.

The event also marked the opening of a branch office of the
Korea National Tourism Organization in Jakarta.

"We already have 20 branch offices in the world. The Southeast
Asian market was being handled solely by the office in
Singapore," Dal-Lyong said.

"We chose Jakarta because we have direct flights between here
and Seoul with Garuda Indonesia, Korean Airlines and Asiana
Airlines," he said.

The South Korean government has allocated some US$20 million
for the Visit Korea Year 2001 campaign.

"Half of the money is focused on Japan. But Asia is becoming
more and more important so we are focusing on the entire region,"
Dal-Lyong said. (hdn)