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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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 Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:51 am Post subject: |
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| adzee1 wrote: |
| ... it would be hard to make Korea look luxurious when you see the ugly communist apartment blocks everywhere. |
Fair point, although I think the apartment buildings built in the last few years are looking nicer. It'll be a while though until the many ugly (but still very expensive) buildings along the Han River are replaced. |
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Squire
Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:26 am Post subject: |
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| adzee1 wrote: |
Good idea but the problem is Dubai has nice weather, Korea doesnt..
Also Dubai is marketed as a luxurious destination, it would be hard to make Korea look luxurious when you see the ugly communist apartment blocks everywhere. |
On many levels it wouldn't work as well, but Korea has more relaxed drinking laws and... actually that's all I can think of 
But it certainly wouldn't hurt Korea to have at least one unique building or bridge. I think my home city has more variety in architecture than South Korea has as an entire country. Any old city in Europe probably does |
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motiontodismiss
Joined: 18 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Squire wrote: |
| adzee1 wrote: |
Good idea but the problem is Dubai has nice weather, Korea doesnt..
Also Dubai is marketed as a luxurious destination, it would be hard to make Korea look luxurious when you see the ugly communist apartment blocks everywhere. |
On many levels it wouldn't work as well, but Korea has more relaxed drinking laws and... actually that's all I can think of
But it certainly wouldn't hurt Korea to have at least one unique building or bridge. I think my home city has more variety in architecture than South Korea has as an entire country. Any old city in Europe probably does |
Dude, a GATED COMMUNITY in America has more architectural variety than all of Korea. You know, one of those corporate planned development thingies with the McMansions. |
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goreality
Joined: 09 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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Korea should continue to focus on tourism from Japan and China. They are close, so they don't need to be convinced that it is a world-class destination to visit. There are 1.5 billion or so potential tourists. They are more interested in Korean food, culture and K-pop because of cultural familiarity. They love duty free shopping and casinos. The idea of medical tourism is appealing to them as well.
I often get the feeling that the reason why Koreans are obsessed with what the western countries think is more because of the amount of Koreans living there with romantic views of their home country. |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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Korea has abandoned her classics, like historical buildings (Namdaemun) and literature. Japan and China did a much better job at introducing foreigners to their interests, yet Korea still hides most of whats best because its "too Korean" 
Things like:
Korean bullfighting
Taekkyon
Korean folk tales
Go to any major bookstore in the US and browse the Asian story list. Unless you are in a Korean bookstore, odds are that the number of Korean books are likely to be outnumbered by books about Vietnam (say nothing of Japan/China)
Even in Korea, check out the Korean stories and see how many have been translated to English or any other language. You see more English books translated to Korean which in turn outnumbers the number of local stories on the shelf.  |
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The Floating World
Joined: 01 Oct 2011
Location: Here
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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Thingscomeareound - where can I see Korean Bullfighting?
Cheers. |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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Not sure how marketable that would be...
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| The announcer's voice assumed an urgent tone. "The Korean bull is bleeding," he said, appealing to the deepest nationalist sentiments. "Ask the Korean bull to fight. Remember our past and our miserable history when Korea was colonized by Japan." |
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| They call it a gentle kind of a bullfight, but you wouldn't have known it from the blood that smeared the bulls' horns and heads as they stood with their tongues hanging out, their great bodies heaving in the sun. |
Ok, apparently they don't kill the bulls, just not sure how stoked the average person would be on this. Plus the nationalist injection is a turnoff for most.
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| Jung compared the temperaments of the Korean and Japanese bulls. "The Korean bulls are much easier to train," he said as a Japanese bull stamped and shook his head. "They don't anger like the Japanese ones." |
Hmm... projecting maybe? And they even put Japanese flags on the bulls and cheer when they lose.
Reminds me of an exhibit at an aquarium in Seoul where they had a "Korean VS Foreigner" exhibit for animals. There was a graphic of two boxing gloves smashing against each other and the animals were in tanks side by side as a comparison.
It was just funny that they made it into a competition. There was a "Foreign" frog in a tank next to a "Korean" frog in a tank. The frogs couldn't have cared less about each other. Nationalism is a funny thing.
From a marketing standpoint, if they really want to market themselves in a positive way to outsiders, maybe the extreme nationalism and exclusivity mentality should be minimized. |
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Savant
Joined: 25 May 2007
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:44 pm Post subject: |
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South Korea mainly attracts tourism from other Asian countries due to a combination of the cheap won and/or love of Korean dramas/music.
For wider cultural tourism, they don't have much to offer that can't be bettered by what's found in Japan or China. Sadly, that's Korea's reality.
Edit: For a thought, would unification drastically increase tourism to a unified Korea? I'm sure lots of people from all countries would love to tour around the North just to see the conditions the people lived under and the grandiose statues and squares. |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 10:56 pm Post subject: |
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Agreed Mix1 and Savant.
But you guys know that nationalism will not slow down even for potential economic success.
@Mix 1- yes, it is weird how Korea turns simple things into a "foreigner vs Korean" issue, take for example the Olympics, if a Korean is eliminated they cease to show any more of that particular event.
@ Savant- reunification is unlikely for at least five dozen years unless the North steamrolls down again. Even in the hopes of saving money (with trade and tourism) South Korea won't support the new 조선 out of spite. I'll bet even a crumbling of the dictatorship South Koreans wouldn't occupy the North. |
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wishfullthinkng
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Squire wrote: |
| adzee1 wrote: |
Good idea but the problem is Dubai has nice weather, Korea doesnt..
Also Dubai is marketed as a luxurious destination, it would be hard to make Korea look luxurious when you see the ugly communist apartment blocks everywhere. |
On many levels it wouldn't work as well, but Korea has more relaxed drinking laws and... actually that's all I can think of
But it certainly wouldn't hurt Korea to have at least one unique building or bridge. I think my home city has more variety in architecture than South Korea has as an entire country. Any old city in Europe probably does |
they will have the world's second tallest building after dubai's burj khalifa in a few years.
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/11/28/2011112801018.html |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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| adzee1 wrote: |
Yes there are lots of people and money in China but what do you tell them Korea has that China doesnt have ?
The countryside here is nice but its not really unique in any way, the nightlife again is ok but not really worth travelling to Korea for, in terms of world famous sites there are none, also the culture is a little stale here and not really worth visiting for.
I could list 30 countries easily that have bigger pull factors to bring in tourists. Bearing in mind that the main things people travel for and consider when choosing where to go on a vacation are weather, beaches, price, cultural / historical sights, nightlife, food, safety, warmth / friendliness of the people.
Korea has good safety I guess but mention the word " Korea" to a bunch of 40 - 60 year olds from Europe or North America and safety is not what springs to their minds, they think Korea = Nuclear weapons + poverty + dog meat industry = Not going there for a vacation |
Well, lots of 60 years -ish have complemented me on having lovely Korean scenic pics taken during Autumn on my facebook page. They all think it's a very beautiful country. But when the weather sucks, it really sucks. This ruins the scenery somewhat when it's cloudy and damp or cloudy and muggy. So, part of the year is a write off. Autumn is the best. Keep in mind these pics are rural, autumn, golden rice fields, clear blue skies, and becoming more clean all the time. |
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madoka
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:40 am Post subject: |
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| The Floating World wrote: |
Yeah, I admit, I made that up. |
Is making stuff up more accepted in Britian?
I try not to comment on anything I don't know about, but I've noticed your fellow brits morrisonhotel and edwardcatflap also tend to make up stuff and try to sound authoritative on assorted topics. Unlike you though, they haven't ever fessed up when caught with their pants down. |
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The Floating World
Joined: 01 Oct 2011
Location: Here
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:15 am Post subject: |
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| madoka wrote: |
| The Floating World wrote: |
Yeah, I admit, I made that up. |
Is making stuff up more accepted in Britian?
I try not to comment on anything I don't know about, but I've noticed your fellow brits morrisonhotel and edwardcatflap also tend to make up stuff and try to sound authoritative on assorted topics. Unlike you though, they haven't ever fessed up when caught with their pants down. |
HA come right off of it madoka, 90% of the drivel written in these forums is half arsed bs dressed up as intelligent discusion (argument would bea better term.) |
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jaj
Joined: 01 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:52 am Post subject: |
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Fade-in. Close-up of a smiling ajumma in a sun visor
Ajumma
Did you heard about gimchi?
Voiceover: South Korea, made possible in part by Samsung and the USA
Fade-out. |
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