Korean Job Discussion Forums

[seoulsucker]

I'm doing an interview today for a national newspaper. A small group of expats from lots of different countries will be asked about their opinions of tourism in Korea, both the good and bad.

I have plenty to talk about of course, but I thought I'd turn to my peers in the ESL community for any ideas or suggestions you'd make regarding the tourism industry here in Korea.

I've been given a green light to let 'em have it, so feel free to let loose with any and all suggestions!

[mj roach]

Tell them that Korea needs to be more sparkling if it wants to attract more tourists.

[cbclark4]

Tell the ajummas on JeJu that those parasols are only worth $5 a day, and to leave some of the beach for the tourists.

The Lantern Festival @ JinJu is well worth the visit.

The Chrysanthimum festival on DotSum
(Pig Island) Masan is a great day trip.

There should be more 'useful' English tourist websites.

I've been here 8 months and that's all I can come up with.

[venus]

The international film festivals at both Busan and Jeonju are excellent.

[kat2]

Korea needs to realize that it's never going to make it promoting itself as a place for "cultural" tourists. China and to an extent Japan already hve the corner on that market in East Asia. Plus, there's really not much left of the old buildings and cultural sites for tourists, so they need to stop trying to go that route.

Korea needs to promote itself as a destination for shopping, nightlife, skiing, or something else. (like Hong Kong, singapore, Shanghai, etc) The problem is that Korea doesn't have enough of any of those things to really make it worth while. Maybe shopping, but its expensive here compared to Shanghai.

The other direction that I feel Korea could go is to promote itself as a place for international conferences, trade shows, conventions, etc. It already does this to an extent, but not enough.

They just really need to realize that the "cultural" tourists aren't going to come here and neither are the beach/mountains tourists b/c there are so many better places to go in Asia if you want that. I think they are focusing on the wrong thigns with a lot of their branding and imaging.

Also, to be honest, when Americans at home hear tha I live in Korea, all they think about are nukes, commies, and Kim Jong-Il. South Korea relaly needs to make a better effort at separating itself from the North in the minds of tourists.

[Zolt]

Overall impression I get is that most of the tourism in korea is great for locals, but not quite sparkling enough to attract people from accross the globe.

Not that it's bad at all, I think there's a great variety of things to do in korea: ski stations, mountaint hiking, temple and historical monuments, beaches, and cool food (although it takes some getting used to). It's great to have all these within such a small country. Simply there's nothing that you can't have bigger, better or cheaper elsewhere in Asia.

Thay can do something to market their ski resorts abroad, but they need to keep the price down and crowding down, because they're clearly a notch or two below japan in mountain and snow quality.

Chejudo is cool and could be a very good alternative to Okinawa/Guam/Hawai for japanese tourists. It's bigger (so less crowded) and cheaper. It's also actually nearer from Japan's main islands than Okinawa is.

[billybrobby]

[kat2]

And they need to have a NATIVE SPEAKER proof and edit their commercials. So many of Korea's commercials are ridiculous.

In fact, tell them to hire the ad agency taht does Malaysia Truly Asia. Those are great commercials and have put Malaysia on the map as a tourist destinatio nfor a lot of people.

[Milwaukiedave]

More of the websites (especially for trains, buses, etc) in English. That goes just as much for the cities like Gwangju who don't even have much of that info in English.

Korail's website use to be pretty good for schedules, but they goofed that up.

[The_Eyeball_Kid]

I realised that Korea was beyond help from a tourist perspective when I had a group of university students discuss the matter in a conversation class. I instructed them to come up with some ideas for an international tourist attraction that would bring in visitors from all over the world.

After half an hour of discussion, what did they come up with?

A hanbok museum and a museum of Korean history.

I threw them out of the classroom.

[DRAMA OVERKILL]

Other than Japanese shoppers and golfers and Chinese uh... "whatever the hell they do here", what tourism industry???

Bragging about how great it is here doesn't impress anyone... Show us through well done advertisements!!!!

Work with what attractions you already have, and make it appealling!!

Also, the "5500 years ago..." story that accompanies every damn mountian, stream, river, temple, parking arcade, and shopping mall is annoying... Not every one is here for a Korean history lesson.

[whatever]

The skiing here is crap. It always has been and always will be. Next!

[seoulsucker]

Thanks so much for the input guys...very helpful.

I really agree with the branding thing. The ad wizards here don't seem to grok the idea that you have to stick with one image, phrase, slogan, or icon and continue to pound it into the minds of potential consumers.

I was watching CNN the other day, and I noticed that even the Korean Air commercials had changed the slogan they used after only a week on the air.

Korea, Sparkling? Soul of Asia? Dynamic Korea? Pick one and RUN with it. Typical scatterbrained approach...

[Chicoloco]

[seoulsucker]