As Indian Economy Grows, Korea Sees Favourable Destination To Expand Its Tourism Industry
The South Korean government has proposed a series of tourism-boosting efforts this year, with the goal of attracting 10 million international tourists following a decrease in visitor numbers caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.
In conjunction with that, Korea is taking several cultural initiatives to restore and boost the tourism industry in the country. Recently, the Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) organised a three-day-long Korea Festival in India.
According to the Executive Director of KTO, Younggeun Lee, nearly 140,000 Indian tourists were visiting Korea before the pandemic but last year, Korea got 60,000 Indian tourists. “However, 50,000 Indians have already visited Korea this year as of June and we anticipate to see double the number of tourists by the end of the year, with estimates of over 1,00,000,” Lee said.
Lee seems bullish on India’s economic development, he believes that as India’s economic might is growing, people will have more disposable income and Indians could be one of the largest numbers who can come to Korea as tourists. At present, India is not one of the largest markets for the Korean tourism industry.
Lee was in India to meet with travel industry stakeholders and promote KTO's ambitious Visit Korea Year 2023-24 project.
Lee counts the major influx of tourists towards Korea including K-Culture, K-Pop and K-Drama which is often known as the Hallyu wave. He also said that we are building tour programs in partnership with numerous travel firms in Korea and India, a joint endeavour aimed at understanding both sides’s interests in order to boost tourism to the country.
He assured that the tourism board is working with the embassy to make the official procedure smoother and expressed hope that policy-related issues will be worked out at that level.
