Tourism & Hospitality | Wednesday 6 May, 2015 11:09 am |

Korea National Tourism Organization will be exhibiting at this year’s Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, UAE from 4May to 7May. This will be one of its biggest presence with several leading tour operators, provincial Government officials and Korean Air. KNTO has been participating at this exhibition for more than ten years consecutively and this has left a lasting impression in the Middle East travel trade as the only East Asian country with a very strong presence, identity and simplified visa procedures.

The number of tourist arrivals from Middle East to S. Korea has been in a constant increase over the last few years and in particular from GCC. The number of GCC tourists in Korea reached 26,274 tourists in 2014, an increase of 32% compared to previous year while visitor arrivals from Middle East reached 155,219 tourists in 2014, an increase of 23% compared to 2013. GCC travelers are enticed by Korea’s enchanting landscapes, midnight shopping, choice of cuisines, world class theme parks, island resorts, rich cultural heritage, mild weather and a blend of historical treasures with cutting edge contemporary amenities.

South Korea is home to several technological and multinational corporations in the world. Therefore, a visit to Korea for students is a unique learning opportunity with hands on experience and orientations covering various industries ranging from environment, IT, automotive, ship building, telecommunication and several others. KNTO has created tailor made programs for educational institutions to come and experience Korea and this includes visits to Government organizations, public and private sector, visits to tourist attractions, scenic rides, picnic spots, world class theme parks, a bullet train experience and many other activities. Therefore, the last 3 to 4 years had seen several GCC schools and universities travelling to Korea for educational purposes and this trend is continuing to increase. “The best part of the educational tours is that once they had been to Korea, they continue to travel quiet often as the faculty realizes that students need to learn a lot from the Korean experience” commented Mr Kwanghee Kim, Regional Director of KNTO for Middle East. He added by saying that there were institutions that had been to Korea several times within the last few years.

South Korea is also emerging as one of the most important medical tourism destination in Asia with quality healthcare and state of art medical technology. The level of medical expertise in implementing cancer treatments and organ transplantation in particular has reached the world’s highest level. Medical tourism into Korea started with the growing popularity of Korean entertainment like music and drama going global. Beauty and plastic surgery led the way for young generation to visit Korea and this led to a booming medical tourism industry. KNTO started medical tourism marketing in early 2011 and since then the numbers have continued to grow. Korea received 211,218 medical tourists in 2013 generating revenue of USD 360 million. For foreign patients, Korea’s primary draw is its unique combination of high tech and high quality medical care at affordable prices when compared to those of US, Europe and Japan.

KNTO has taken several initiatives to promote medical tourism like launching its first dedicated website for medical tourists, www.visitmedicalkorea.com, an informative and user friendly platform that helps in communicating with hospitals, have an online consultation and many other useful features. The website is available in English and three other languages. The Arabic version is due to be launched by the end of this year. Gulf countries and S Korea has been forging strong relations in the field of medical tourism and in bringing Korean healthcare home. As part of the increased cooperation between Gulf countries and South Korea, KNTO had organized the first Medical Tourism Festival in Abu Dhabi last year bringing in a team of leading hospitals and medical travel agencies. The 3 day event attracted over 2000 visitors and offered free medical consultations for the public.

Korea national tourism organization is on a mission to attract 20 million foreign visitors by 2017 from the present 14.2 million tourist arrivals in 2014. The Korean government is currently focusing on Halal tourism as the number of Muslim tourists continue to increase. According to 2014 statistics, out of the 14.2 million travelers that had visited Korea, 750,000 were Muslim travelers. Therefore, KNTO is in process of issuing halal certificates to at least 140 restaurants nationwide; in addition to taking care of availability of Masjids in major cities as well as provisional masjids. KNTO Dubai office had taken several initiatives to promote Korea among the Arab audience by launching the Arabic website www.elakorea.com, a dedicated Arabic travel guide, Halal Restaurant and Food guide for Muslim visitors, Korea travel documentaries with Arab celebrities and social media campaigns.

Korea is absolutely a safe and clean destination with warm and friendly people. GCC nationals are provided a visa upon arrival for 30days and free of cost.