Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), Dubai participated at this year’s ATM with a larger presence than last year. This is the tenth consecutive year for KTO at ATM. The trade professionals will have a great opportunity to meet and interact with the suppliers consisting of tour operators, hoteliers, and Government officials from provinces across Korea. 

The tourism arrivals in Korea touched 9.79 million in 2011, up from 8,79 million arrivals in 2010.

Mr. Seunghyun Hwang, the regional Director of Dubai office commented that “As a result of the ongoing VISITKOREA campaign 2010-2012, the numbers are fast increasing and we expect to achieve our objective of targeting more than 10 million tourists before the end of this campaign”

The GCC tourist arrivals in 2011 have increased a 48.9 percent from 2010, Saudi tourist  arrivals to Korea have recorded massive increasing of 87.17 percent, 21.5 percent the increasing the of UAE tourist arrivals to Korea, and 20.3 percent the increasing of Kuwaiti tourist arrivals to Korea. 

VISIT KOREA YEAR 2010-2012- The “Visit Korea Year” is a 3 year global campaign started in 2010 untill 2012, to introduce the hospitality and attractions of Korea to the outside world. Several initiatives are lined up during this campaign ranging from festivals and regional events to International events and discounts programs. 

The tourism industry is the thirteenth biggest export item after the semiconductor and ship industries. The annually growing tourism revenue shows the importance of the tourism industry.

KTO has set three visions for 2020; taking the top spot as the most competitive tourism industry in Asia, attracting 20-million-tourists and increasing the period of domestic travel to 30 days per person. To achieve these goals, the KTO has not only improved travel infrastructure to accommodate foreign tourists but has also performed overseas promotional activities to attract the attention of people around the world.

In addition, the KTO has formed various plans to boost domestic trips like the refreshing vacation campaign.

Korea will hold the 2012 Yeosu Expo, 2014 Incheon Asian Games and the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. We expect the Korean tourism industry to make a considerable growth along with such mega events as well as an improvement in infrastructures.

Korea is positioned as a premium destination with state of art tourism infrastructure and a diversified range of activities such as 24 hour shopping, modern theme parks, 5000 year old history and many more. The country is very safe, clean and the people are friendly and helpful.