Korea selects 10 thematic tourist courses under joint project

Korea selects 10 thematic tourist courses under joint project. December. 17, 2011 06:08. jmpark@donga.com jy788@donga.com.

An initiative to select “Korea`s top 10 thematic courses” spearheaded by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry and Visit Korea Committee is part of a tripartite project with China and Japan to develop "Golden Tourism Routes."

Tourism ministers of the three countries agreed in May to pursue the project to promote tourism by selecting major tourist destinations in each country. The final courses will be decided Dec. 26-29, when a tripartite working-level meeting is scheduled, but Korea has chosen its major tourist destinations.

Korea has selected UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites as its representative thematic tourism course.

Jeju Island, which attracted more than a million tourists annually for the first time this year on Friday, is another major tourist course. Jeju selected a Chinese tourist from Shanghai as its 1 millionth tourist and held an event to celebrate the milestone. Along with Mount Nam in central Seoul, Jeju has been chosen Korea`s leading walking-tour course.

Other courses include an eco-tour including a visit to the Demilitarized Zone, a shopping tour that covers shopping malls, IT tour, leisure and sports tour, and wedding and medical tour.

The Tourism Ministry and the committee have developed these tours in the belief that thematic tourism will eventually grow into the mainstream of the Korean tourism industry.

The boosting of provincial economies is another reason for the development of the tour programs. According to a survey of foreigners who visited Korea last year, 80.3 percent toured Seoul and 37.6 percent visited Incheon and Gyeonggi Province.