| House of Awon in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, renowned for a shooting location of BTS' "2019 BTS Summer Package in Korea" / Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization |
By Lee Hae-rin
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has upgraded its foreign language website, VisitKorea.or.kr, to an integrated marketing platform in order to boost competitiveness and bring more foreign tourists to the country while helping the local travel industry expand.
Launched in 2008, the online platform available in eight languages has attracted an annual average of over 15 million visitors. The eight are English, Japanese, traditional and simplified Chinese, Spanish, German, French and Russian.
According to the KTO, the renewed site will reflect the changed tourism trends after the COVID-19 pandemic, deliver interesting new content for visitors to Korea and introduce various services by applying new IT technology and promoting products and services in the tourism industry.
Taking a closer look, the renewed platform is divided into three main sections: "Plan your trip," "Where to go" and "Things to do."
The "Plan your trip" category creates a personalized itinerary based on basic travel information, such as location, date of the trip, interests and preferred travel destinations.
The itinerary suggests events, restaurants, accommodation and sightseeing schedules featuring discounts on a map, while also offering basic information about Korea for first-timers, including facts, history and transportation.
The "Where to Go" category offers 150 new itineraries recommended by K-culture celebrities and local travel experts on various themes.
For example, featured itineraries include a trip to the southern coastal city of Gunsan, North Jeolla Province mapped out by Lee Do-hyun, who starred in Netflix's "The Glory," and K-pop star ATEEZ's guide to a serene stroll in the historic city of Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.
Under the "Things to Do" category, the website showcases travel packages on diverse themes, ranging from "hallyu" tourism, wellness and medical tourism, cultural activities and festivals, to Islamic-friendly travel and UNESCO World Heritage sites.
It also presents tour packages and travel stories with various topics, such as places visited by the K-pop giant BTS, hiking trails at National Parks, K-beauty tour in Seoul's luxury uptown Cheongdam, DMZ tours and one-day trips to the seaside city of Pohang as featured in K-drama "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha."
| A seaside village in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, a filming location of a K-drama "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" / Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization |
In celebration of the platform's renewal, the KTO is running a month-long membership event and offers special benefits, accommodation vouchers, music festival tickets and shopping coupons that foreign tourists can use during their stay in Korea.
Participants may sign up on VisitKorea and participate in over two rounds of the lucky draw event at the official VisitKorea website.
The first round of the event runs until July 18 and the second round runs from July 19 to Aug. 2. The respective winners of each round will be announced on July 25 and Aug. 8.
| VisitKorea's lucky draw event poster to commemorate the launch of the revamped website / Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization |
The KTO plans to effectively develop travel ideas and products based on the website's accumulated tourism data in collaboration with local governments and the private tourism sector.