According to Yonhap News,
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) will host a "K-Tourism Roadshow" in 20 major cities overseas this year and strengthen K-pop related businesses.
KTO will develop various tourism products and work to promote domestic tourism through collaboration with other ministries .
On January 21st, KTO announced its "8 Key Strategic Initiatives," which include the following: Aggressive marketing of Korean tourism; Expanding the tourism ecosystem through cross-industry convergence; Expanding overseas territory through K-content; Strengthening one-stop incubating functions for overseas expansion; Promoting regional tourism; Improving tourism service touchpoints; Leading open innovation; and Building a better life through tourism.
A KTO official stated, "To achieve the challenging goal of 20 million inbound tourists, we are consolidating our organizational capabilities and focusing on these 8 key initiatives to deliver early results that the public can feel."
KTO will implement aggressive inbound (foreign tourist) marketing at the beginning of the year to quickly reverse the weakened inbound tourism sentiment.
The organization will hold the "K-Tourism Roadshow" in 20 major cities, including New York, Beijing, and Tokyo, to boost inbound tourism.
Additionally, KTO will establish "PR branches" in 12 cities with high growth potential to accelerate the development of new markets.
By collaborating with other ministries, KTO will expand its business scope, including marine tourism, medical tourism, and leisure tourism, and will develop inbound products themed around beauty, food, and shopping.
KTO will also strengthen K-pop related businesses. Through the "All-in-One Hallyu Ticket, K-PACK," it will expand the existing K-pop concert-focused promotions and develop specialized K-sports products, including e-sports and Taekwondo.
Through the Korea Tourism Startup Center (KTSC), KTO will support overseas demonstrations (PoC), market development, local investment attraction, as well as legal and tax consultations.
To stimulate domestic tourism, KTO will launch the "Travel Month" campaign, providing benefits to 1.5 million citizens.
KTO will expand the operation of "Digital Tourism Resident Cards" to 45 regions and promote regional stay-type tourism through initiatives such as activating workations, developing night tourism programs, and distributing 1 million local accommodation discount coupons.
The organization will improve the convenience of foreign tourists by enhancing transportation and shopping services, such as activating foreigner-only taxi apps, expanding simplified payment partner stores, and increasing instant refund outlets.
KTO will also strengthen its function as a testing ground for private sector technologies and services and will carry out tourism product demonstrations tailored to regional strengths.
The organization will select 15 regional tourism promotion organizations (DMOs) and introduce new "regional DMOs" linking local governments.
Through the Employee Vacation Support Program, KTO plans to promote a tourism model that fosters growth of both private enterprises and local governments.
KTO Acting President, Seo Yeong-choong, stated, "Since the end of last year, we have formed a comprehensive task force (TF) to stabilize inbound tourism early and are aggressively promoting domestic and international tourism revitalization projects."
He added, "This year, we will focus all our efforts on achieving significant progress in expanding the market, industry, and service quality, and most importantly, in creating a safe and secure tourism environment for the public."
KTO will hold a briefing session for its 2025 plans at the Korea Press Center on February 5th and share detailed implementation plans.
chacha@yna.co.kr
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Source: Yonhap News (January 21, 2025)
** This article was translated from Korean.