Korean Job Discussion Forums

[waltjocketty]

The first time I came to Korea, I didn't have my E-2 yet, so I was a tourist until I did my Fukuoka visa run. The point is, MOST teachers did this at some point, and therefore would be considered tourists according to this survey. I call hogwash on the survey.

[mindmetoo]

[waltjocketty]

Well, my school made everyone do that when I came to Seoul initially. Any job which requires training in Korea beforehand will bring you to Korea as a tourist first. Also, I've known loads of people who spend time in Korea interviewing for jobs in-between contracts, in which case they are registered as tourists.

[earthbound14]

here something that would keep Korean tourism down.

It's run entirely by Koreans.

Foreign companies (tourism companies, resorts, guides) are sparse in Korea. The entire thing is pretty much run by Koreans and likely has little contact with outside organizations. With few connections to outside travel agents and tour operators Korea would have a pretty tough time drumming up tourists.

The entire industry in Korea is geared towards Koreans. There is very little geared toward the outside world. There are a few UNESCO wrod heritage sites, bu they are virtually unknown to the outside world, and not well promoted. Hotels are either very pricey, or difficult to find (if you're new to the country). For my first 2 trips to Gyeongju I stayed in the most noticeble places for foreigners, a hostel and the only foreign tourist hotel I've ever seen in Korea. They are the only place I've ever met tourist in Korea...except for the mighty expensive hotels in Seoul (and these folks weren't staying long). I prefer to stay in the sex motels now that are always around the bus or train stations. 40-50 a night, usually really new. In Japan you can find plenty of info when you get off the plane or ferry. In Korea you can choose from a few over priced hotels. Also there is a distinct lack of guided services, food other than Korean food, or McD's, and many sites Koreans deem to be great places to visit really aren't interesting to your average westerner.

[kingplaya4]

I would guess these threads were started as a backhanded way of criticizing Korea. Which is fine by me. But let's be fair, Koreans could be the most welcoming kind people in the world and they still wouldn't get many western tourists.

They've got mountains, but these are generally less impressive than the rolling hills of the Appalachians. Their buildings are more for function than form, as a result of their past history. I haven't been to that many beaches here, but what I did see were fairly clean, but not particularly scenic. If Korea could be moved 20 degress in latitude towards the south, I think you would find far more tourists.

I think if Korea pursued a policy of trying to be the leader in new green technologies and improving the scenery of their cities it could be a more popular destination, but I think at best it would be a must see for a day or two on the way to China or Japan.

[Horangi Munshin]

I got told by my recruiter to say I was a tourist the first time I came to Korea. I flew over then did the visa run.

The airport check-in guy did ask me and I answered as coached by the recruiter. He actually said "Korea???? Really? What for?"

[huffdaddy]

[Poemer]

From the cursory glance I gave the site you linked to, it looks like those numbers are arrived at by counting every US citizen who flew to Korea. That would include people like me who flew over here looking for work. It is clearly not useful to count people like me as a tourist for the purposes of comparing the tourist industries of different countries.

[jkelly80]

Korea needs to get some kind of "wacky weird" city infrastructure to get tourism, because it doesn't have touristy kinds of attractions (beaches, historical sites, etc). It has some really picturesque countryside, but that won't get them over in droves when there's China and Japan with pretty much the same stuff.

The massive amounts of xenophobia don't help either.

[huffdaddy]

[mindmetoo]

[Poemer]

[huffdaddy]