The number of incentive travel tourists who visited Korea in 2017, excluding those coming from China, reached a total of 183,307–reflecting a 25 percent increase over the previous year. Pictured is an incentive travel group from Indonesia (Millionaires Club Indonesia, MCI), enjoying their winter trip last year on one of the ski resorts situated at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics venue.
According to Korea Tourism Organization CEO Changsu Jung, Korea’s incentive travelers from Southeast Asia is experiencing an upward trend particularly from Vietnam (56,246 , 90.5 percent), the Philippines (4,855, 128.7 percent), and Malaysia (16,681 , 27.3 percent). In addition, countries which showed weakness in growth over the past years rose considerably and are being considered as new incentive market in the future.
The increase in incentive tourism is directly driven by the economic growth of emerging markets in Southeast Asia and the active efforts of the Korea Tourism Organization in diversifying its market. KTO Meetings & Incentives Team Director Chulbeum Park said, “We have taken several steps to seek new markets and increase the tourist arrivals in Korea. Our major move was to expand the existing support system to attract more incentive groups to Korea last year.”
In 2017, KTO has successfully launched its new corporate meetings & incentive support program and initiated several road shows overseas together with other Korean tourism providers and convention bureaus. This year, the Korea Tourism Organization is expected to continue and add more road shows and other promotional activities for 2018.
The Korea MICE Bureau (KMB) of the Korea Tourism Organization, aims to establish Korea as a premier destination for convention delegates and business travelers. As the government’s leading MICE Agency, the KMB has worked for nearly 40 years to provide a wide range of advice and assistance to those considering holding meetings in Korea. For more info, visit www.koreaconvention.org or e-mail mice@knto.or.kr.
