Typical main activities of KTO during this time include the annual Korea MICE Tourism Fair (KME 2021), Famtour to experience Korean tourism online, K-pop Dance Cover Contest, and the K-friends Korean Tourism Promotion Ambassador program. Each program has its own characteristics, promising to attract a lot of attention from Vietnamese people to Korean tourism.
From June 29 to July 13, for three consecutive weeks, the Korea Tourism Organization, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports of Korea and the Incheon Tourism Promotion Bureau jointly organized the largest International Travel Fair in Korea,Korea International Travel Expo (KITE 2021)The fair series includes four main fairs, starting with the MICE Tourism Fair, followed by the Tourism Trade Fair, the Luxury Tourism Fair and the Therapy Tourism Fair, with a wide range of accompanying activities.
Korea MICE Expois an annual event held since 2000 with the participation of hundreds of domestic and foreign MICE partners, experts, and leading Korean event organizers. KME 2021 is held from June 29 to July 2 in both in-person and online formats at the Songdo ConvensiA Convention Center, Incheon City. The fair is expected to have about 1,000 representatives from government agencies, organizations, departments, local tourism promotion agencies of Korea and 1,500 representatives from travel agencies, hotels, tourism service businesses and related industries, along with nearly 1,000 international partners, of which Vietnam has more than 40 representatives. This is the second year the fair has been held online to suit the complicated epidemic situation, providing unlimited access to partners from many countries around the world.
Korea MICE Annual Fair 2020 – KME2020 – (Source: koreaconvention.org)
With the theme revolving around diverse fields of the MICE industry, KME 2021 mainly focuses on the restart of the tourism industry such as analyzing the impact of digital technology on the development of the MICE industry after the Covid-19 pandemic and related new perspectives and trends. In addition to conferences, seminars, and presentations, KME 2021 will bring unique experiences through virtual reality tours, with a schedule including a series of unique event spaces, large-scale convention centers, and experience programs exclusively for Incentives (Incentive Travelers). At the same time, the award for "Best MICE Enterprise" will also be presented at the KME 2021 Fair.
Online B2B conversation at KME2020 with strict epidemic prevention measures (Source: koreaconvention.org)
Also within the framework of the Korea International Travel Fair KITE 2021,Famtour experience Korean travel onlinewill be held from July 5 to July 7 with the participation of 900 partners from travel agencies, tourism departments, hotels, airlines, press and related agencies. The program will take participants through three main themes for the three-day Famtour. On July 5, with the theme of Hallyu wave, shopping and trends, Famtour will introduce the most favorite places of Hallyu wave fans in Seoul; visit the top Korean entertainment companies such as SM, YG, JYP, HYPE; tour the most prominent alleys in Seoul such as Seongsu-dong, Eulji-ro, Hongdae; stores run by celebrities, trend-leading shopping locations. On July 6, the theme of Cuisine (Michelin Star), the most unique restaurants in Seoul and Busan. On July 7, Famtour will take tourists to participate in outdoor activities such as traditional Korean resort tourism, luxury resorts, adventure sports... The three-day Famtour will bring a Korean tourism space that is both virtual and real, both far and near, strongly demonstrating the motto "Our Heart are Always Open - The heart of Korea is always open" for everyone.
To further spread the understanding of Korean tourism and culture, KTO has builtK-friends Korean Tourism Promotion Ambassador Communityon an online platform with the participation of young people who love Korea around the world, participating in posting interesting information about tourism, culture, Korean cuisine on Facebook, Instagram... Since its inception in 2020 until now,K-friendsNearly 82,000 young people from many countries participated, including more than 600 from Vietnam. In 2021, K-friends launched its logo, three extremely adorable cartoon characters including Hojong the tiger, Mugo the bear, and Kawoo the crow. The three characters have accompanied many events and competitions in the K-friends community, creating a lot of joy and excitement for participating members. K-friends hopes that more and more young people will join the community and spread their love of Korean culture and tourism to everyone.
3 K-friends characters including Hojong the Tiger, Mugo the Bear and Kawoo the Crow
Within the framework of the programHallyu OlympiadOrganized by KTO in all countries where it has branches, KTO Vietnam will organizeK-pop Cover Dance Contestlasting for two months, August and September for young people who love K-pop with a total prize of up to 100 million VND. The contest promises to be an extremely exciting and explosive playground for those who love Korea in general, and K-pop in particular, to show off their talents and win valuable prizes.
“We hope that both Korea and Vietnam will quickly complete vaccination for the entire population, thereby opening up many opportunities for economic recovery, including tourism. Korea is always ready to welcome Vietnamese tourists to come and experience right after the epidemic ends,” said Mr. Park Jong Sun - Chief Representative of the Korea Tourism Organization in Vietnam.
