Korea To Position Itself As Perrenial Destination

Fam For Film Producers Planned

Bhisham Mansukhani - Mumbai

Kavi Ghei

Banking on a year-round approach, Korea plans to achieve the 50,000-tourist mark by marketing itself as a destination for all four seasons. This, Korean Tourism Organisation believes will catapult it as one of Indian traveler's more favoured destinations.

According to Kavi Ghei, director, TRAC Representations, representative of the Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) in India, Korea attracted 35,000 Indians to its country in the year 2004. "The destination presently receives primarily business traffic; the board has initiated various marketing promotions to also augment arrivals on the leisure segments. Regular, run-of-the-mill promotional strategies have been avoided and those channels chosen would definitely hit at the heart of the market. Networking and collaborations for Korea Tourism have been top-of-the-line associations and will continue to be so, considering the exclusivity of the destination audience profile," said Ghei.

Besides educating the trade, KTO took the route of aggressive direct marketing to identified target group and the launch of a bi-monthly e-bulletin were the major tools used by the board to create general awareness. The board also organised a food and cultural show in association with the airline and the Embassy of Korea. As a strategic approach only selected tourism products were introduced in India depending upon the needs of the market. A special emphasise was laid on promoting Korea as a global exhibition center.

To capitalise the global recognition of the Indian film industry, KTO is looking to woo Bollywood with special benefits for producers to select Korea as a preferred location shoot destination. A familiarisation trip of some of the leading film producers is on the anvil to showcase the 'cosmopolitan first world' image of the place.

KTO intends to position itself as an 'up-market look east lifestyle' destination offering diverse tourism products for both free individual traveler as well as families. The biggest challenge KTO cites in the Indian market is to convert the image of Korea from a business destination to a tourist destination. Winter sports are being marketed visibly as a big draw for the Indian summer as an alternative to European destinations. Also in the spotlight would be to tap the transit passengers to the US who could easily enjoy a halt in Korea and take in a bit of the Orient before heading to westbound destination. An added benefit for these passengers would be the facility of "Visa on Arrival".