S. Korea seeks more RI winter tourists

Amid the growing popularity of its pop culture in East and Southeast Asia, South Korea has set a goal of seeing a 45 percent increase of Indonesian visitors in its upcoming winter.

In the last Korean winter, which lasted from December, 2010, to March this year, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) recorded 20,000 Indonesian visitors. The organization said it hoped that at least 29,000 Indonesians would visit South Korea in the upcoming winter.

“The number of Indonesians visiting Korea reached 100,000 as of November, increasing by 20 percent from last year. We hope more people will come and experience winter in Korea,” KTO strategic tourism product director Kim Dong-il said in a press briefing about Korea Winter Travel Fair 2011 on Thursday.

KTO organizes the travel fair to encourage more Indonesians to visit Korea during the winter instead of other countries which have four seasons such as European countries.

The travel fair takes place at the Ritz Carlton Hotel from Thursday to Sunday and at Central Park Mall from Friday to Sunday. During the fair, KTO will showcase a special performance by South Korean troupes Fanta-Stick, B-Boy Kung and Drawing Show.

“K-pop has been very popular of late. We hope we can use the opportunity to develop tourism programs which will attract more tourists to come to our country,” Kim said.

Source - thejakartapost