SEOUL, KOREA —“Korea’s goal is to welcome 11 million foreign tourists this year through effective strategic PR marketing activities,” a top culture and tourism policymaker said.
The government has set 2012 as the first year to prepare for the 20 million foreign tourists. They are also expecting to earn USD 30 billion in tourism revenue in 2020. Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choe Kwang-shik said, "To achieve this goal, the ministry will create the foundation for high-quality growth of the domestic tourism industry through expansion of tourist hotels in the metropolitan area and fostering a metropolitan home-stay."
In an interview with Korea IT Times, Minister Choe said, "Related to this, we will increase the number of culture & tourism commentators from 2,400 in 2011 to 3,000 in 2012 and crack down on tour guides without due qualifications in order to enhance the degree of foreign tourists' satisfaction of Korean tour guides. Additionally, the ministry wills actively foster city-type home-stay in 50 apartments in the metropolitan area to solve the problem stemming from the shortage of hotel rooms and expand foreign tourists' chance to have direct cultural experiences at a Korean home."
In preparation for a surge in the number of Chinese tourists, the ministry also plans to increase the number of tour guides and will introduce five ancient palaces in Seoul in Chinese from 11 in 2011 to 20 in 2012.
"In keeping with a rapid change in the tourism environment, including diversification of tourism demands, we will also develop future-oriented tourism contents through finding of creative tourism enterprises, construction of IT infrastructure and supports for PR marketing," he stressed. Minister Choe said that the ministry will spend KRW 1.4 billion in 2012 to actively foster industrial tourism using such tourism resources as shipbuilding, automobiles and IT factories. "In particular, we will develop tourist products by making use of the 'hallyu (Korean wave),' including K-Pop, dramas and movies and strengthen marketing activities this year by holding various festivals and hallyu concerts," said Choe.
Creation of contents fund
Minister Choe said that the ministry will actively foster next-generation contents industry this year through creation of KRW 1 trillion won in the contents fund, formation of Smart Contents Valley and assistance for convergence digital contents technology.
"Developing cultural contents is a key policy goal for the ministry's 2012 agenda," he said stressing the importance of the cultural content industry, which the government sees as one of the key future growth engines. Commenting that the ministry plans to establish Smart Contents Valley in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province to house about 100 companies in March, he said, "We will try to combine cutting-edge technology and our tradition in creating new cultural contents."
Choe said, "The ministry will increase its support for firms that produce online games, like it has done with small and mid-sized firms. Smart Content Valley is aiming to house 300 firms by 2015 and create 18,000 new jobs. "To improve the content industry, it is important for us to extend not just financial aid, but create an environment for nurturing new ideas."
He said that the ministry will also create 22,000 new jobs in the tourism area and operate Saturday culture classes at 100 public cultural organizations for young students for free, while stepping up efforts to promote Korean culture abroad.
"The year 2012 will see the opening of several landmark construction projects, like the Korea History Museum in October in central Seoul situated right next door to the U.S. Embassy. A new stadium specifically for taekwondo will open in October. The government will also expand the number of Korean cultural centers in foreign countries," said the minister.
Presently, the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) runs 21 centers, but the number is expected to expand to 24 by the end of 2012, in light of the growing popularity of Korea’s popular culture. "In the first half of 2012, Hungary, Mexico and India will open Korean cultural centers. We also have plans to establish centers in Thailand, Belgium, Brazil and Egypt," he noted.
Hallyu to be expanded to traditional culture
Minister Choe, an ardent promoter of Korea’s traditional culture, said, "During my term, one of my key goals is to promote Korea’s traditional arts and challenge the perception some people have that hallyu is limited to K-pop and TV dramas. There is more interest in traditional Korean culture because of the spread of hallyu.
“So far, the phenomenon has mostly revolved around Korea’s popular culture. Now we must think about what we can do to engage our traditional culture as a foundation for hallyu.” In line with this, an ad-hoc organization was launched within the ministry in January.
Minister Choe said, “The time has come for us to work toward a new wave of hallyu that spurs global interest in our traditional culture, arts, sports and literature. We hope to gradually achieve this through more cultural exchanges with other countries.”
The ministry also announced a series of policy goals to promote hallyu, including the redecorating of public buildings and Korean diplomatic missions to give them a more traditional look and creating spaces within airports and major hotels to promote the nation’s traditional culture.
"The ministry will also set up a new promotional center for “hanbok” (traditional Korean dress) and incorporate more classes on traditional arts in the school curriculum," he explained.
Expansion of tailor-made cultural welfare
To narrow cultural gap between the haves and the have-nots and improve quality of the underprivileged, the ministry is moving to drastically expand the supply of culture, sports and travel vouchers this year. "For instance, the ministry will increase the number of underprivileged people to get the vouchers to 1.71 million in 2012, up 450,000 from 1.26 million in 2011 with its spending rising to KRW 73.6 billion from KRW 53.8 billion," he said.
Culture vouchers will be given to 1.6 million people in the low income bracket in 2012, up from 1.18 million in 2011, to help them enjoy such cultural events as art performances and exhibitions for free. The number of individuals with a low income to get sports vouchers entitled to enjoy pro sports games or listen to sports lectures will rise from 35,000 in 2011 to 40,000 in 2012.
The ministry will also expand the number of those receiving travel vouchers from 65,000 in 2011 to 40,000 in 2012. "In addition, we will foster such high value added tourism industries, including the Meetings, Incentive Travel, Convention, and Exhibition (MICE) industry, medical service tourism and high-quality leisure tourism, this year. In connection with this plan, we will actively attract large-scale convention and incentive tourism participants and explore new medical tourism markets, including Southeast Asia and Central Asia, while fostering ocean tourism leisure industry," he added.
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