South Korea, well-known for her trendy Korean pop culture (K-Pop), intense education system that’s known to produce world scholars, heartwarming and fairytale-like Korean dramas, as well as high-skilled comestic surgeons, has gained a place in many tourists’ hearts.
The thriving metropolis has attracted many tourists, with Seoul logging 10.5 million tourist arrivals in 2017 and 12.1 million in 2018 , with both accounting for nearly 80 percent of the total overseas travelers to South Korea.
This year, the government aims to increase the number of tourist arrivals to 13.5 million.
Despite this, South Korea is still under performing in the region compared to her neighbours such as Singapore (18.5 million tourist arrivals) and Japan (more than 31 million tourist arrivals).
As such, the government has decided to promote the idea of ‘Peace Tourism’ this year, taking advantage of the better relations she has with North Korea.
Additionally, the panel will work to come up with programmes like touring the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and the Joint Security Area (JSA) by May, which will provide greater insight into the reality of the disjointed peninsula.
Besides these, Seoul also plans to nurture three Vatican-authorized pilgrimage routes as major tourist destinations, since the historic Catholic locations in central Seoul were recognized as international pilgrimage destinations last year. Networks will be built up for joint advertising and signs will be installed.
Also, an online Seoul tourism channel on YouTube will be created in March, where 20 new historical and cultural sightseeing routes,as well as filming sites of popular dramas and renowned restaurants will be developed.