Tag Archives: KTO

‘The Indian MICE market is rapidly growing due to its burgeoning middle class and entrepreneurial spirit’

Korea provides a diverse array of opportunities for bleisure travel, enabling travellers to seamlessly blend their business and leisure experiences, says Myong Kil Yun, Regional Director India & SAARC, Korea Tourism Organization, in an interaction with Disha Shah Ghosh.

Q.1.Korea Tourism Organization is keen on tapping the MICE segment in the Indian market. What steps are being taken in this direction?

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) is actively pursuing the MICE segment in the Indian market through several strategic initiatives. These efforts include hosting roadshows, events and webinars in major Indian cities to introduce and promote South Korea as an ideal MICE destination. For instance, KTO India recently organized a successful roadshow in Mumbai in October 2023, bringing together key players in the Korean tourism industry and the Indian tourism fraternity. The KTO is also conducting joint marketing campaigns and collaborating with Indian travel agents and tour operators, providing them with training and support to create and promote customized MICE packages tailored to the specific requirements of Indian clients.

To attract Indian corporates and organizations, KTO offers attractive incentives and discounts. Additionally, KTO is actively showcasing South Korea’s unique MICE venues, which encompass traditional Korean villages, historic sites, and modern convention centers, and promoting distinctive cultural experiences and Korean cuisine. Furthermore, KTO is working on strengthening partnerships with Indian government agencies and industry associations to further establish South Korea as a preferred MICE destination for Indian businesses and organizations.

Q.2.Where does India rank in pecking order as a source market in Asia for KTO?

India had been steadily climbing the ranks as a source market for the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO). India had shown significant growth in terms of visitor arrivals to South Korea in recent years, and it was becoming an increasingly important source market for the South Korean tourism industry.

The Indian MICE market is in a rapid growth phase, driven by its burgeoning middle class and a thriving entrepreneurial spirit. Businesses and organizations from India are increasingly seeking international destinations to host their MICE events, with Korea emerging as a favored choice due to its strategic location, modern infrastructure, and a rich spectrum of MICE venues and immersive experiences.

Q.3.Which are some of the new destinations beyond Busan being introduced in the Indian market?

Earlier this year we had launched the K-incentive Scheme that offered travel agents enticing benefits, such as USD 30 per passenger and streamlined visa support for visitors travelling to Korea. The main purpose of the scheme is for travel agencies to explore destinations like Busan, Gangwon province and Jeollanam-do province.

Beyond Busan, the KTO is actively introducing Indian travelers to diverse and captivating destinations in South Korea. Here are some of the notable options:

Jeollanam-do – Jeollanam-do is a province in southwestern Korea that is known for its natural beauty, cultural attractions, and delicious food. Jeollanam-do is home to a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the Hwasun Dolmen Site, the Seonam Temple, and the Naganeupseong Folk Village. Getbol tidal flat located on the coast of Jeollanam-do is one of the largest tidal flats in the world and has been listed as a world natural heritage site. Jeollanam-do also offers a variety of MICE venues, including the Yeosu Expo Convention Center and the Suncheon Bay Garden Expo Park.

Gangwon – Gangwon is a province in northeastern Korea that is known for its beautiful mountains, pristine beaches, and winter sports resorts. Gangwon is home to a number of MICE venues, including the Gangneung Convention Center, the Pyeongchang Olympic Park, the Alpensia Resort and one of the world’s largest Legoland themepark.

Gwangju – Gwangju is a metropolitan city in southwestern Korea that is known for its cultural attractions and vibrant arts scene. Gwangju is home to a number of MICE venues, including the Kimdaejung Convention Center and the Gwangju Culture & Art Center.

Ulsan is a metropolitan city in southeastern Korea that is known for its shipbuilding and petrochemical industries. Ulsan is also home to a number of cultural attractions, including Daewangam Park, Hakseong Park, Whale Cultural Village. Ulsan offers a variety of MICE venues, including the Ulsan Exhibition & Convention Center, the Hyundai Motorstudio Ulsan, and the Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan Shipyard.

Q.4.Alongside business travel, bleisure is gaining popularity in the Indian market. Which are some of the options for bleisure travel in Korea?

Korea offers a wide range of options for bleisure travel, allowing visitors to combine business and leisure seamlessly. Some popular options for bleisure travelers in Korea:

Seoul: As the capital and largest city, Seoul offers a wealth of attractions. You can explore historic palaces like Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung, visit vibrant neighborhoods like Insadong and Myeongdong, and experience modern shopping and entertainment districts such as Gangnam and Itaewon.

Cultural Experiences: Participate in traditional Korean activities like hanbok wearing, tea ceremonies, and temple stays to immerse yourself in the local culture.

Cuisine: Savor the diverse Korean culinary scene, from street food stalls to upscale restaurants. Don’t miss out on dishes like bibimbap, bulgogi, and Korean barbecue.

Shopping: Korea is a shopper’s paradise, with everything from traditional markets like Namdaemun to trendy boutiques and high-end shopping in areas like Myeongdong and Dongdaemun.

Spa and Wellness: Enjoy a relaxing spa day in one of Korea’s renowned jjimjilbang (sauna and bathhouses) or indulge in traditional Korean medicine at wellness centers.

Nature and Scenic Beauty: Explore the natural beauty of Korea by visiting destinations like Namsan Park, Bukhansan National Park, or nearby UNESCO World Heritage Sites like Seoraksan and Jeju Island.

Cultural Performances: Attend traditional performances like Nanta (a non-verbal cooking performance) or contemporary K-pop concerts.

Nightlife: Experience Korea’s lively nightlife in popular districts like Hongdae, Gangnam, and Itaewon.
DMZ Tours: Take a day trip to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to learn about the history of the Korean War and visit historic sites like the Joint Security Area (JSA).

Han River Cruises: Relax with a scenic cruise along the Han River while enjoying views of the city.
Korea’s efficient transportation system, including high-speed trains and subways, makes it easy for bleisure travelers to navigate the country and explore diverse regions. Whether bleisure tourists interested in history, culture, nature, or modern amenities, Korea offers plenty of options to enhance their business trip with enjoyable bleisure activities.

Q.5.Which business segment is driving business travel from India to Korea?

Korea recently hosted a group of 3,255 financial professionals from a Bank on a corporate meeting. This diverse group, hailing from various parts of India, embarked on their visit to Korea from October 11 to October 30, 2023, as a part of their International Training Programs.

Other than that one of the key driving forces behind business travel from India to Korea is the IT sector. India, globally renowned for its IT industry, has a significant presence in Korea, making it a vital market for Indian IT companies. Moreover, numerous Indian IT professionals work in Korea on a long-term basis, contributing to this collaboration.

Aside from the IT sector, other prominent business segments fueling business travel from India to Korea encompass Pharmaceutical and Healthcare, Automobile and Manufacturing, consumer goods, and Education. These sectors have been instrumental in fostering economic ties between the two nations.

Korea Tourism Organization launches K-incentive Scheme for travel agents in India

As part of the ongoing marketing plans for 2023, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) India office has launched a special K-incentive Scheme to boost sales of Korea travel packages in the market.

The new initiative, which is aimed towards travel agencies across India, was introduced at an event in Mumbai that was held especially for the occasion and in collaboration with OTOAI.

With the launch of the K-incentive Scheme, KTO India hopes to get travel agents in India in the spirit for this being a special year as 2023 commemorates the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Korea.

The incentive scheme’s main benefits include providing travel agents with prizes of USD 30 per passenger and support for quick, simple, and hassle-free tour visas for visitors to Korea between June and December 2023.

In addition to Seoul, KTO is keen to promote regional destinations in Korea including Busan, Gangwon province and Jeollanam-do province. Including any of these regional destinations in the itinerary would be a necessary condition to be eligible for the benefits of the K-incentive Scheme.

Speaking at the launch event at Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai, Myongkil Yun, Director, KTO India said, “This is the first time any NTO is launching an incentive scheme for leisure travel packages in India and this initiative comes at a very opportune time when we are in the year of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two nations.”

Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI, shared his thoughts on the launch as well, “Korea has enormous potential to grow from the Indian market and I am confident that together we can generate good numbers for the destination. On behalf of OTOAI, I would like to thank Korea Tourism for specially curating this incentive program for our members and entrusting OTOAI. I would like to request all
the members to whole-heartedly support the destination by recommending it to your clients. I assure you that your travellers will return with a unique and memorable experience in Korea”.

To be eligible to be a part of the K-incentive Scheme, interested travel agencies should share their marketing plan on or before 14th June 2023. Yun added, “This year, South Korea is seeing a surge in visitors from India, and we are keen to further boost that many-fold with the launch of the K-incentive scheme. There is a lot to see and do in Korea, for visitors of all ages and we are ready to welcome Indian travellers to in huge numbers to Korea, where K-culture begins!”

KTO appoints Myong-kil Yun as Director for India

Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has appointed Myong-kil Yun as the new Director of its India office, effective today. He will be based in Gurugram, spearheading promotion and marketing activities in India and its neighbouring countries for the next three years.

Holding a Master’s Degree in International Tourism Policy, Yun has been with KTO since 2004. This will be his second time working in the India market, with his first appointment being during 2013~2016, when he served as the office’s Deputy Director.

Speaking on the occasion, Yun said, “I am excited to be back in India and look forward to working closely with trade partners and media in the region to further position South Korea as a premium overseas destination for Indian travellers. This year also marks 50 years of Korea-India diplomatic relations, so this feels like an especially good time to be back.”

KTO India office plans to focus on the segments of luxury travel and Special Interest Groups like K-pop and K-Drama fans and Students visiting Korea for Educational tours, aiming for the numbers to reach 150,000 in 2023, and 500,000 by 2026.

KTO brings the spotlight on new destinations through two webinars

Using the opportunity to educate the Indian travel trade about the varied facets of South Korea, Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) in association with TravelBiz Monitor organised the second edition of South Korea Webinar Series 2022 on March 17 and 22, respectively.

The first webinar was focused on Incheon, which is a city in South Korea on the coast directly to the west of Seoul. Incheon is South Korea’s largest airport and is also known as the land of wellness and healing. Incheon stands out as a healing city that blends history and modernity harmoniously. Travellers can enjoy a relaxing spa and enjoy their stay.

[media-credit name=”SHIN WONGEUM” align=”none” width=”485″][/media-credit]

Another attraction of Incheon is The Sorae Ecology Park, it was once a facility used to produce salt until 1996. In May 2009, it was revived as a biological stop. This stop has a salt field, mud level, and wetland as the bed of different living animals and natural surroundings for transitory winged animals; one can explore the park by walking and exploring its wooden windmills.
Guests can also choose a temple stay option along with staying in a luxury hotel.
Art-tainment Resort Paradise City is the first Korean style resort complex in Northeast Asia combining multi-purpose hospitality and entertainment facilities such as a hotel, casino, convention, shopping, art gallery, spa, club, carnival and performance. Paradise City offers the most exciting entertainment one can ever experience.

The second webinar in the series introduced the agents to the Gangwon Province and FNFKorea Travel & DMC.

The Gangwon Province is home to 18 cities and counties with tourism characteristics. There are convenient transportation services one can use to reach Gangwon-do from the airport. Its key highlights are wellness, activities, venues, K-Wave, and SNS Hot Place.

Hongcheon is a mountain village good for one to escape from the city buzz, with no access to mobile connectivity. In Jeongseon, Park Roche Resort & Wellness allows guests to undertake meditation therapies and trekking. The High 1 Resort HAO Program offers high-end wellness programme, and Osaek Greenyark Hotel is another fascinating property for wellness enthusiasts. The Donghae Mureung Health Forest offers heat therapy with its salt themed sauna.

As far as activities are concerned, one can enjoy zip wire, curling game and surfing in Gangwon Province.

The Museum SAN, located in Wonju, focuses on art and nature. Oak Valley is a purpose-built resort that houses the museum which stretches 700 metres along a mountain top. At Jeonggangwon, one can experience making of traditional food.

 

Korea Tourism Organization organises its maiden Hybrid MICE Roadshow in New Delhi

Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), in order to update its latest MICE destination offerings to the Indian travel trade organised a one day experiential event – “Korea MICE Experience Day 2021” at Pullman Aerocity on 10th December.

The aim of the event was to prepare the travel agents for the re-opening of the destination in the near future. This was the first physical event in hybrid format, which KTO had organised post-Covid-19 pandemic. The event began with the virtual address by Sangho Moon, Director, MICE Marketing Team, KTO followed by opening remarks by Y.G. Choi, Director, KTO New Delhi. The special addresses to the event were given by Chan Kim, General Manager, Korean Air and Guldeep Singh Sahani, former president of OTOAI and supporter of KTO.

South Korea was presented in a new light for MICE travel. The latest support program and unique experiences for MICE events were introduced to the trade partners. The event was organized in association with OTOAI (Outbound Tour Operators of India) for its active members and close travel trade and media partners of KTO.

A live virtual tour of Gyeongbuk Palace (iconic landmark in Seoul, South Korea) was arranged for attendees followed by three exciting engagement activities – Hanbok (Korean traditional dress) wearing experience, Korea MICE (X O) Quiz and Dalgona Cookie Challenge (From the K-Drama fame –The Squid Game).

To make the event meaningful for business purposes, hybrid B2B meetings were set up with 11 Destination management companies. 3 DMCs were present physically, while others connected virtually with the travel agents.KTO is looking forward to sign MOU with companies who confirm their interest in sending MICE groups to South Korea by 2023. These companies will be eligible for exclusive and additional support or incentives by KTO when travel formally resumes. Commenting on the event, Choi said, “Even though the COIVD-19 situation is not fully resolved globally, I am confident that the worst is already over. Our Outbound travel industry will be back on track very soon. We wanted to show a New South Korea to our trade partners especially for MICE groups, so we planned this as our final event of the year for the travel industry, to show how optimistic we are for the coming year”

KTO will be mainly targeting the Luxury travellers, SIT segment and K-pop, K-Drama fans next year. In the current year, KTO has reached PAN India travel trade partners and consumers through a series of online and offline initiatives under the umbrella of the mega event “KXperience”. With this event KTO closed its KXperience series for 2021, where it catered its B2B partners.

 

Korea Premium Travel Consultant webinar generates enthusiastic response from the travel trade

Korea Premium Travel Consultant (KPTC) webinar was organised by Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) on August 4 in association with TravelBiz Monitor. Through this webinar, KTO wants to assist and train a select group of travel agents across India and certify them as Korea premium travel consultants for the year 2021-22. To carry out the entire exercise KTO has collaborated with TravelBiz Monitor as their knowledge and technology partner. A large number of trade partners from different parts of the country participated in the webinar.

Setting the tone of the online event, YG Choi, Director, KTO, New Delhi Office, said that the e-event is not just a mere destination presentation on South Korea. “It’s the beginning of our long term certification program with the Indian travel trade. The pandemic has made people cautious about selecting a destination. Taking due cognisance, we brought in several changes with respect to our destinations and need to share these and here the KPTC program comes into play,” he said. Choi also said that international travel is gradually opening with the ebbing of Covid-19 cases globally. “I sincerely believe outbound tourism will gather pace by the end of this year and India will significantly contribute to it,” said an optimistic Choi.

Sandeep Dutta, Marketing Manager, KTO, New Delhi Office, who gave a presentation and explained about KPTC and its advantages. The webinar informed the attendees about KPTC,and said that it is a formal accreditation program by KTO. “A ‘Korea Premium Travel Consultant’ is a specialised travel advisor who is highly skilled with South Korea destination knowledge and is able to handle the diversified request of their customers,” the webinar noted.

The e-event explained about advantages (for a KPTC member), and said that it’s highly advantageous for any Indian travel agent as they are able to directly get connected with South Korea’s tourism board office in India and become a part of a closed group of individuals. The webinar informed the attendees that a KPTC member will receive the benefits such as regular destination updates and training, direct assistance from KTO for any consumer query, opportunity to participate at various South Korea FAM trips organised by KTO, joint marketing support for South Korea tour packages, Korea packages sales-related incentives and prizes. On Covid situation, the webinar informed the participants that South Korea is one of the few countries in the world that deftly handled the crisis.

The webinar threw light on culture, attraction, infrastructure, connectivity, and the nightlife of main destinations like Seoul, Busan, Jeju-do and Gyeonggi-do. It also touched upon secondary destinations viz Gangwon-do, Chungcheongnam-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Jeollabuk-do. Each destination both in primary and secondary categories is unique in its own way.

The e-event also shared an interesting piece of information to the attendees and said that any tourist wearing a traditional Korean cloth can enter any South Korean national monument for free. “One should remember this as it will save you money,” the webinar noted. On food, the webinar said that South Korea has more than 100 Indian restaurants. The webinar also touched upon the connectivity and said that in pre-Covid time Korean Air and Air India used to operate direct flights from Delhi and Mumbai. “Other airlines also used to operate one-stop flights from different cities of India,” it noted. The country has 15 airports, out of which eight are international. But, most of the Indians use Incheon International Airport, Gimhae (Busan) Airport, Jeju Airport while visiting South Korea.

To become an eligible Korea Premium Travel Consultant one has to be a participant in the webinar. The other criteria are, the travel product that they will curate should have a 7-night itinerary and cover all aspects of travel (like flights, routing, hotel name tour attraction etc). Best entries will be awarded and inducted into the KPTC program for the next level.

At the end of the webinar, a barrage of interesting questions was asked by the participants, which clearly speaks volumes about the interest the event generated.