About the Visit Korea Committee
The Visit Korea Committee is a non-profit foundation under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It is the tourism industry’s sole public-private partnership organization dedicated to advancing public interest through collaboration between private and public sectors. Through the successful execution of the ‘Visit Korea Year 2010-2012’ campaign, we achieved our goal of welcoming 10 million international visitors. The ‘Visit Korea Year 2016-2018’ campaign laid the groundwork for qualitative growth in the tourism industry.
Moreover, we launched the ‘Visit Korea Year 2023-2024’ campaign to revitalize Korean tourism, contributing to domestic tourism growth alongside our citizens by establishing Korea as a premier tourist destination that attracts visitors worldwide.
Currently, the Visit Korea Committee operates ongoing programs targeted at individual international tourists, including the ‘Korea Grand Sale,’ the ‘Korea Beauty Festival’ centered on K-beauty themes, the ‘Local Treasures of Korea’ program to vitalize regional tourism, the multilingual ‘Smart Tourism Information System,’ and the ‘Korea Welcome Week’ events.
Characteristics of Visit Korea Committee
- Contribute to the advancement of the Korean tourism industry with public-interest oriented project based on private-public collaboration
- A maximizer of project synergy by establishing a tourism cooperation network engaging diverse private players
- A link between private-private and private-public (local government) inducing close cooperation and success of consolidated projects
- An enhancer of Korea tourism scale by attracting the private sector based on government funds as facilitator
- Utilize the partners’ (private companies) business cooperation network, expand overseas promotion and focus on foreign individual tourists (FIT) in Korea
History
September 2008
Established as nonprofit organization under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
2010–2012
Contributed to attracting 10 million foreign tourists with successful launch of 2010–2012 Visit Korea Year
July 2013–2015
Reorganized into Visit Korea Committee, and launched various programs involving cooperation between public and private entitites
January 2016–2018
Launched 2016–2018 Visit Korea Year campaign, and contributed to qualitative growth of tourism industry
2023 – 2024
Rebranded as ‘Visit Korea Committee’ and launched the ‘Visit Korea Year 2023-2024’ campaign
2025 and beyond
Continuing initiatives through enhanced public-private partnership networks of the ‘Visit Korea Committee’
Past Campaigns
Visit Korea Year 2023-2024
Overview
The Visit Korea Year 2023-2024 initiative aims to lead the international tourism stage through an aggressive strategy that combines K-culture with tourism amid the simultaneous global recovery and competition in international tourism.
Honorary Ambassador
Cha Eun-woo
Key Achievements
Contributing to the tourism industry’s advancement and economic revitalization through tourism campaigns that leverage the Committee’s strength in expanding private sector participation and collaboration models.
Serving as the cornerstone of Korean tourism growth by harnessing the appeal of K-content amid the global spread of the Korean Wave.
2016–2018 Visit Korea Year
Vision
The world keeps coming back to Korea
Introduction
Launched to build on the success of the 2010-2012 Visit Korea Year campaign, which contributed to attracting 10 million foreign tourists, and to lay a foundation for the tourism industry’s qualitative development commensurate with quantitative growth.
Ambassadors
Lee Min-ho, Seolhyun, Pororo
Key Outcomes
Laid foundation for qualitative growth of Korea tourism with improved welcome services for foreign tourists.
Raised awareness among general public through welcome campaign and promotional activities via on- and offline media.
Secured growth engine for tourism industry through expansion of local government network.
Promoted provincial tourism to foreign tourists by utilizing provincial tourism resources.
Expanded public-private cooperation network by encouraging voluntary participation from private entities.
2010–2012 Visit Korea Year
Vision
To raise the standards of Korea’s tourism sector and to raise awareness of the national tourism brand
Introduction
Launched to raise the standards of Korea’s tourism sector and to raise awareness of the national tourism brand through efforts to attract foreign tourists, promote regional tourism, and improve the tourism infrastructure with the goal of attracting 10 million foreign tourists and enhancing the competitiveness of Koreans tourism.
Ambassadors
Bae Yong-joon, Kim Yuna, Girls’ Generation, Pororo
Key Outcomes
Established cooperative system and network among tourism-related organizations.
Maximized synergy of tourism programs through greater involvement of private sector.
Promoted provincial tourism and stimulated provincial economies through joint programs with related organizations.
Spread the Korean wave across the globe.
Instilled a more sophisticated attitude in citizens and tourism industry workers, and improved conditions of major sites (shopping, food, transportation).
Attracted participation from the tourism-related private sector, and laid the foundation for qualitative growth of Korean tourism.
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