Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ihavenolips]

Korea recently launched a new tourism campaign under the slogan "Dynamic Korea: Hub of Asia"

The promotion effort pretty much fell on deaf ears outside of Asia. The problem was that the Korean National Tourism Organization (KNTO) had difficulty finding a national image to attract foreigners. Korea does have toursim potential, but still only 1.2 million non-Asians visited Korea in 2004.

The article at the link below explores the reasons why. Check it out if you ever wanted to know about foreigners in Korea.

http://www.ajarn.com/Contris/kenmayfebruary2005.htm

[hellofaniceguy]

Good post!
As for the non Asian tourists'....the American count of tourists is misleading in a way as well as the for ESL teachers. I��ll explain.
The KNTO numbers also reflect the American military members and their families...who are not tourists. Those are in the thousands and thousands. Same with ESL teachers doing visa runs. Leave Korea and return��and you��re counted as a new tourist.
I was actively involved in the KNTO for 13 months a few years back. We were a group of 11 foreigners who were hired to��help edit pamphlets and brochures��I say help edit��we were not allowed to make any changes! As well as contact the tourism departments of other countries and get them to promote Korea��Everything was done the way the Koreans wanted it done. Fresh ideas��were never accepted. New ideas from 3 of the foreign staff who were experts in tourism��were also ignored.
You pointed out many good reasons to visit Korea as well as a few for not.
But.....without going into the hundreds of negative reasons for not visiting��.or recommending Korea to others as well as the thousands who do not return to Korea for subsequent visits��..I think many already know why.
Koreans shoot themselves in the foot many times��and when the international news media picks up on the protesting, corruption, the fist fights in the legislation��and on and on��not to mention the driving habits��which incidentally��many foreigners did complain about to KNTO��many bad images. It hurts foreign investment and tourism.
Another complaint was the ��having to give the white envelope�� in order to do business.
Things are getting better and changes are happening��.but Koreans need to realize that the door swings both ways.
I have personally tried to attract a few companies to open or do business in Korea. Great business opportunities for some of these companies��but��none wanted to do business with Koreans.
What really got me upset at times��was the way some of the foreigners talked about how great Korean was, good for investments and business etc. and then complain about all the negatives behind closed doors.
Many underlining reasons why Korea can��t promote itself��the beaches, mountains, etc. are not going to attract tourists.

[Gwangjuboy]

The writers of that article suggest that Cheongju and Jeonju were once spealt exactly the same way. I don't know how that is possible. Maybe Jeonju used to be Cheonju, but I am pretty sure it has never had a "g" in it thus making them similar in spelling but not the same.

[diver]

[diver]

I met some travel agents from Germany that were here over the summer. There was (is?) a push to promote Korea as a tourism destination in Germany and they came over to look around and to liase with officials from the KNTO. The KNTO official took them out to dinner and spoke on his cellphone the whole time. Finally hung up, and pushed them to hurry up and eat because he had another appointment.

They will no longer be dealing with the KNTO or Korean travel agents. The upshot is that they will send tourists to Korea, but they are only going to deal with a foreign (Russian) run outfit based in Jeju.

[rapier]

The tourists can have Jeju for golf and beaches, and Seoraksan for temples and hiking..

Areas of outstanding scientific interest such as the DMZ, Saemangeum etc would be good for strictly controlled eco-tourism.

[chiaa]

[just because]

-I don't think korea is as bad or as hard to get around as the writer is implying. I have never had much trouble, even when i first arrived here and have seen some great stuff. Lots of it in supposed out of the way places.

-

[gomurr]

Great article but with 1 problem. The train station for ch'ongju is in fact in Chochiwon (Used to live in Ch'ongju). Would have been better just to go the bus station. I think it's easy to get confused about the names, there are 3 cities on the west side of Korea that sound Similiar but spelled a little different:
Ch'ungju - Ch'ongju - Chongju (Lonely Planet '97 edition)

You can see how confusing it would be for a tourist with no knowledge of Korean. Alot of Koreans get them mixed up as well. I used to throw in the name of the province to make sure they got it right when travelling back to Ch'ongju.

[noelinkorea]

Strange that you lived in Cheongju, but you never knew of the Cheongju railway station!! It is right behind Bumo-san, which is the mountain next to the Cheongju IC gate to enter the city. Jochiwon station is 8km from the gate, whereas the Cheongju station is a mere 2km. You can take buses to get there fromthe city centre, natually. With the Cheongju station you can also avoid all of the city hustle and bustle and go easily into the downtown. The station is after Osong station, which is after Jochiwon station. Jochiwon station (which is actually in Chungnam, and not Chungbuk) is 18 km directly to City Hall, but Cheongju station is 8.5 km directly...a bit of a difference.

[gomurr]

I remember now and I only took the train once and that was coming back from Busan. The train from Busan doesn't stop directly in Ch'ongju but in Chochiwon and you would have to transfer trains which would be a waste of time.

[Zenpickle]

"Korean Tourism will Improve if it Caters to Backpacking English Teachers" by a Backpacking English Teacher

Actually, I agree with the improvements the author suggests, most notably the maps and tourism zones (more Insa-dongs, yea!).

[Barking Mad Lord Snapcase]

[Real Reality]

Where is Korea mentioned?

1,000 Places to See Before You Die
by Patricia Schultz

Contents (note: excerpt from Asia section only)
Asia
East Asia
China
Japan
Mongolia
South and Central Asia
Bhutan
India
Iran
Nepal
Sri Lanka
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Southeast Asia
Cambodia
Indonesia
Laos
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam
Australia, New Zealand, and The Pacific Islands
http://btobsearch.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?sourceid=00395996645644787198&btob=Y&ean=9780761104841&displayonly=TOC

The Traveler's Atlas: A Global Guide to the Places You Must See in a Lifetime. by John Man, Chris Schuler, Geoffrey Roy
Korea??????

[endofthewor1d]

i've talked about korea's tourism problem with friends of mine from back home who toyed with the idea of coming to visit me, as well as with a korean woman i know who actually did a lot of work on the whole 'dynamic korea' campaign.
from a western country, if you're going to lay down that kind of cash, there are far better places to see.
don't get me wrong. i love living in korea. but if i ever had a friend come to visit, and he asked me what is worth seeing, i'd have to tell him 'well... this is a pretty good bar. there's another good bar just up the road...'
a lot of countries have mountains. and a lot of countries have beaches... dare i say even beaches where the local girls don't wear button-up shirts in the water.
food, on the other hand, would be a reason for me to come. i absolutely adore korean food. but the problem with that is that a lot of korean food is a bit of an aquired taste. one or two weeks isn't really enough to aquire it.
getting smashed off your ass on two dollars worth of soju might be reason enough for some, but if that's why you come, you might as well spend the money you would have spent on a plane ticket to get smashed off your ass on something really expensive at home.
korea... nice place to live, but i wouldn't want to visit there.