Visit Korea Committee Activities

Follow-up Coverage of the Visit Korea Committee’s Social Media Event “A trip to tourist attractions in Pyeongchang that people
Follow-up Coverage of the Visit Korea Committee’s Social Media Event “A trip to tourist attractions in Pyeongchang that people from all over the world are paying attention to!”     Do you remember the online survey event in celebration of the G-200 of the PyeongChang Olympics that took place in July? At that time, the Daegwallyeong Sheep Farm was selected as the most popular tourist destination by Koreans, and the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center was the first choice for people from other countries! To show you more vivid views of the most popular tourist destinations from the survey results, the online service staff of the Visit Korea Committee went to Pyeongchang. It took almost three hours by car from Seoul to Pyeongchang in Gangwon Province. On arrival in Pyeongchang, it was the right time to get something to eat! We all know that a loaf of bread is better than the song of many birds! Prior to our coverage coming in full swing, we had the famous Korean Table d’hote with gondre-bab (seasoned thistle with rice) in Gangwon Province. When you are on a trip, trying the region’s local food is more than just a great experience. It can be something memorable later on, and besides, it is usually very healthy! The abundantly served gondre-bab can be found anywhere in Gangwon Province. We strongly recommend trying it! After the meal, our coverage began! The first place to visit is the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center, which was chosen to be the most popular tourist destination by people from other countries! Having overwhelmingly topped on the social media pages in English, Japanese, and Chinese (Traditional), this place plans to host the competitions of ski-jumping and Nordic combined at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. We took a ride on the monorail to go up to the top of the ski-jumping hills. It was so steep and high that we already felt dizzy going up for 5 minutes. With the Special Monorail Ticket, you can go up to the ski-jumping hills and see ski-jumpers prepare to glide down at a very close distance. The height of the jumping hills is about 69 meters, which is almost 850 meters above sea level. (The athletes who can make their jumps here are truly amazing!) Due to the climate of Gangwon Province where it snows heavily in winter, the path to the top of the jumping hills is made of mesh to prevent snow from piling up! Our legs shook as we walked on it! You might be wondering what Gangwon Province looks like from the observatory. As expected, the panoramic view of Alpensia and Gangwon Province from up here was spectacular. It looks green because it’s the beginning of autumn now. But when the Winter Olympics are held in February, the whole area will be covered in snow; hence the view will be even more beautiful! The next place is the one that received ardent responses from Korean tourists! It’s the Daegwallyeong Sheep Farm, where sheep are running around a wide field of grass! With an admission ticket, you can have an amazing experience of feeding cute sheep with dried hay! We wanted to stay a bit longer as we all had a good time with the sheep, eating everything we gave them. But it was time to leave for the next destination: Gangneung for dinner! Gangneung is one of the three host cities of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics. Located on the east coast of Korea, it attracts tourists with its local dishes made from fresh seafood. It is a jaw-droppingly huge spicy seafood stew, isn’t it? It may look a bit strange to foreign tourists, but we would recommend trying it when you visit the east coast. The broth made from fresh seafood tastes amazing! Anmok Beach took 1st place on the social media page of Chinese (Simplified)! It was a nice place to be even when the sun went down, as the coffee streets were illuminated with beautiful lights. What do you think of the day and night at Anmok Beach? Don’t you think they feel quite different? With beautifully lit cafes, Anmok Beach looked stunning after sunset and was perfect for an evening walk! The first thing we did on the second day was to try Gangneung’s two local plates: gamja-ongsimi, a soup with potato dumplings, and gamja-jeon, a crispy potato pancake! You can also have a variety of dishes made of potatoes in this city, including gamja-kalguksu and gamja-sujebi. If you love potatoes and happen to be in Gangneung, you should try a bowl of gamja-ongsimi! This is the Yeongjin Beach Seawall, the place our staff were so enthusiastic about! This place is also famous for being a shooting location of the drama Guardian: The Lonely and Great God! Every moment we spent here was shining because the weather was good, because the weather was bad, and because the weather was moderate. * _ * On this day, the sky was so clear and looked very harmonious with the sea; it was just awe-inspiring scenery!   Farther down from the Yeongjin Beach Seawall, there is another beach called Kangmun. It is also a popular place that offers photo zones along the beach so that families, friends, and couples can take great photos and keep their memorable moments! If you are visiting Gangneung, you should visit at least one of the many beaches! People even visit the east coast in winter to see the sea. This is the PyeongChang 2018 House, a public relations center for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, where you can get a sense of the big events already! The center provides VR devices and 4-D screening to give visitors a livelier experience of winter sports and an introduction to Pyeongchang, Gangneung, and Jeongseon! Once you have visited the center, please remember to leave your message of support for a successful Olympics! ^^ The last place we would like to introduce is the Seongyojang House, Gangneung. It is designated as the Important Folklore Cultural Heritage No. 5, and known to be one of the best traditional houses in Korea! The house now offers the hanok stay service—a hanok is Korea’s traditional-style house. Just being out there could offer a spiritual healing session, as the property is surrounded by natural beauty. It’s been a short but very fruitful exploration of the tourist attractions around Pyeongchang! We were thrilled to visit the hosting cities of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games prior to the openings. ^ _ ^ We hope you will enjoy more of the vibrant and beautiful Pyeongchang this winter!
Date : 2017/09/11 | Views : 7474
Information Session on Korea Tour Card with Local Governments
Information Session on Korea Tour Card with Local Governments     The Korea Tour Card is something you may find as important as your passport when visiting Korea. The card, available for foreign visitors only, was discussed during an information session for Korean local governments on Wed, August 30. Attended by officials from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Visit Korea Committee, and local governments (marketing departments), the session was held in Airport Railroad’s meeting room at Seoul Station to discuss ways to improve the card. Visit Korea Committee Secretary-General Han Kyung-ah delivered the opening remarks. The session was followed by a promotional video on the Korea Tour Card, which can be used for transportation, shopping, cultural activities, and sightseeing. The video presented various ways to use the card and the benefits it has. Marketing Team Leader Jeong Juyeong of the Visit Korea Committee reported that the Korea Tour Card’ popularity is ever growing among foreign visitors and, thanks to its wide range of benefits available at more than 2,000 stores, it has sold over 80,000 copies in only six months since its launch. A great synergy will be made if the use of the card goes beyond Seoul into other cities across the country. After the discussions, a Q&A followed. There were various opinions, questions, and positive responses. Finally, we wrapped up the meeting with a commemorative photo with all participants. We look forward to seeing what other benefits the Korea Tour Card will bring. We will continue working to ensure that with just one Korea Tour Card people can enjoy what Korea has to offer as much as possible.
Date : 2017/09/06 | Views : 5261
Awards Ceremony for Outstanding Members of the 16th Global Promotional Delegation for Korean Culture and Tours
Awards Ceremony for Outstanding Members of the 16th Global Promotional Delegation for Korean Culture and Tours     An awards ceremony was held to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the 16th Global Promotional Delegation for Korean Culture and Tours, who began their mission as delegates in June. 🙂 Gathered on the 1st floor of VANK’s “Nesting Birds” Seowon in Bomun-dong, Seoul, on Wednesday, August 30, the delegation shared their experience for about an hour and a half with the awardees giving a presentation on their exemplary activities and a lecture being given on the importance of global promotional activities. The 16th Delegation promoted Korea to many foreigners in different places through their own unique ways. 🙂 A friendly smile is essential for a delegate to approach a foreign stranger. We are so proud of the delegates who truly embodied and promoted K-Smile ^^ Certificates of merit, medals, and gifts were awarded to those who conducted outstanding activities!! We believe these certificates and medals illustrate we are one step closer to globally promoting Korea. A celebratory event is always accompanied by group photos~! Service Improvement Team Leader Lee Eunjung of the Visit Korea Committee and VANK Director Park Gi-tae joined the awardees for group photos. As it was a ceremony to award outstanding promotional activities, the awardees gave presentations on their own experience, helping everyone see the efforts they made to promote Korea.  We hope to see all members of the Global Promotional Delegation for Korean Culture and Tours continue their exemplary efforts to promote Korea to the world
Date : 2017/09/06 | Views : 5251
Tourist Service Center, Participating in Korea International Tourism Show
Tourist Service Center, Participating in Korea International Tourism Show     The Tourist Service Center (TSC) provides all necessary services for foreign tourists! This day, the TSC gained a lot of interest and attention at the Korea International Tourism Show. From August 24th to 27th, the TSC devoted itself in providing tourists with a lot more useful information and amenities. It can be tiring to see such a big exposition. Refreshments were served to visitors to keep it up! We shared nice and cold drinks with people who took a simple quiz and signed on for the Pledge of Kindness! You could go inside and experience a livelier trip with VR devices! Besides photo guest books, there was also a blackboard where you can leave your own message. You wouldn’t forget to leave your message like this if you had found the TSC, would you? A cute little friend also signed on for the Pledge of Kindness! Everyone at the event signed on for the Pledge of Kindness to make a friendly Korea. Thank you all for being with us on that day. And we appreciate your continued interest and support for the TSC’s next destination!
Date : 2017/09/06 | Views : 4803
North Chungcheong Familiarization Tour with the 16th University Students’ National Smile Team
North Chungcheong Familiarization Tour with the 16th University Students’ National Smile Team     It was a Familiarization (FAM) tour in North Chungcheong Province with the 16th University Students’ National Smile Team! From August 25th to 26th, twenty-two members of the University Students’ National Smile Team went on a FAM tour in North Chungcheong Province. This province is one of the places where you can enjoy traditional scenery with superb natural landscapes. Let's take a look at the exciting stories and scenes from the North Chungcheong FAM tour with the 16th University Students’ National Smile Team!   However, in any circumstances a loaf of bread is better than the song of many birds. We didn’t miss out on taking photos during lunch before the FAM tour! Everyone looks so excited about the overnight trip to be unfolded. The first place we visited was the Dodamsambong Peaks and the Seongmun Gate. We watched the natural scenery of Danyang while listening to the cultural heritage commentator. After that, we visited the Danuri Aquarium. Seeing so many colorful fish in the aquarium, we could only say “Wow.” There were all kinds of amazing things to see! There was still something to see at night! This place is called “Suyanggae Light Tunnel.” Can you imagine that you won’t get nice pictures when taking photos here? Not only the indoor but also outdoors were so beautiful, so we just couldn’t stop taking pictures here. We probably took over 100. The weather continued to be nice and dry on the second day. On that day, we could see the panoramic nature scenery on a cruise ship! Felt so refreshing! Now that we’ve had a look, shall we try participating in experience programs? We visited the Hanji Experience Hall and made lamps with hanji, the traditional Korean paper. The light reflected on hanji was so delicate and calming. It would be great to use them as mood lights. It was a short but very fruitful overnight trip! We hope that more tourists will visit North Chungcheong Province after this FAM tour and enjoy their time there just like our National Smile Team members did! Go, the 16th Team! Thank you all for participating in this FAM tour! Keep it up, North Chungcheong Province. ♥
Date : 2017/09/05 | Views : 5444