[Anchor]

As South Korea's charms become known worldwide and it is chosen as a country people definitely want to visit, the number of tourists visiting Korea surpassed 15 million for the first time last August. We met with Park Sung-hyuk, President of the Korea Tourism Organization, to hear about the current status and future path of "Tourism Korea."

Reporter Sim Useop.

[Reporter]

Q1: I heard that inbound tourists are at an all-time high.

President Park Sung-hyuk: Yes, according to statistics, inbound travelers visiting Korea surpassed 15 million by August. When comparing this with the same period last year, this figure is about a month and a half faster, and we can see it as a trend moving very rapidly toward our target of 23 million this year. In addition to that, tourist spending has also increased together, with tourist spending exceeding 14 trillion won recorded by the end of August. Therefore, whether viewed from an economic perspective or the number of visitors, we are heading in a very excellent direction. For your reference, looking solely at the number of tourists, we are currently seeing an increase of over 21% compared to the previous year. It is safe to understand this as a growth rate that South Korea has never achieved even once in the past.

Q2: Is it possible to achieve 30 million visitors by 2028?

President Park Sung-hyuk: Absolutely. To reach 30 million visitors by 2028, we actually need 23 million tourists to enter this year to get close to 30 million, so to speak. Therefore, as I mentioned earlier, we are actually progressing well toward 23 million this year. To attract more tourists and ultimately reach 30 million in 2028, our Tourism Organization is currently highly advancing data-based marketing activities. Furthermore, we are pushing forward sales activities to attract local tourists to the maximum by making full use of our overseas branches. Moreover, it is difficult to accommodate this tourist volume of 30 million if they only enter Seoul. Consequently, we have various efforts in place to disperse those tourists toward regional airports and regional ports. A company-wide TF is organized within our Korea Tourism Organization, so there is a regional airport TF and a port TF centered around cruises and ferries. By combining these diverse activities, we must head toward 30 million, and from our current perspective, we judge it to be very positive.

Q3: Which country is being focused on after China and Japan?

President Park Sung-hyuk: Needless to say, it is Europe. In my view, currently, a very large number of tourists from the Greater China region are coming in, and then we look at Japan. In fact, if asked where the next market is, I think it is unquestionably Europe. The reason I think so is that, first of all, the growth rate is extraordinary. The European market is growing rapidly by more than 20%. The reason we consider the European market as a target for active marketing is that, first of all, European visitors stay about 5 days longer when they come. In addition, their spending expenditure is approximately 30% higher, and they are a traveling demographic that travels across various regions rather than just staying in Seoul. As you already know, Europe is the largest travel market in the world. Considering all of these things, the region that our Korea Tourism Organization must actively market next is bound to be Europe. As I mentioned earlier, we have plans to grow this market, which is rapidly growing by over 20%, into the third-largest market following the Greater China and Japanese markets in the future.