The Korean Tourism Organisation will launch an online platform for the travel trade in a bid to restore UK tourist numbers to pre-pandemic levels.
The platform will include interactive training tools, directories for hotels and DMCs and online brochures, and will replace previous training systems developed by the tourism board.
The authority hopes the platform – which is expected to launch by the end of the year – will boost sales to the country, which have fallen dramatically since the pandemic.
In 2019, 140,000 UK tourists travelled to South Korea, making it the country’s second largest source market in Europe, and fifteenth largest worldwide.
However, in 2020 just 20,000 UK tourists visited South Korea, and in 2021 just 8,000. Between April and May this year, 8,300 UK tourists have travelled to the country.
Korean Tourism Organisation acting president, Sangyong Shin, said giving agents the confidence to sell South Korea holidays is key to restoring UK visitor numbers.
“We need agents to feel they have the knowledge and confidence in recommending Korean products, so we want to work together to help them know what they’re selling, which will include fam trips and the development of the new platform,” he said.
“We’ve had online training platforms before, but this one is going to be more comprehensive and is being developed after listening to what agents want.
“The platform will offer interactive training with quizzes, directories for hotels and online brochures, as well as more niche tours as British people become more accustomed to Korean culture.
“There has recently been a surge of interest in Korean art, food, drama and film, and we want to develop those as tourism products to give British people unique experiences in the country.”