Gyeonggi Province Launches Tourism Marketing Initiatives in Preparation for Post-COVID-19 Era

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province and Gyeonggi Tourism Organization have launched tourism marketing initiatives in preparation for the post-COVID-19 era by hosting the first local government online business meeting in the tourism sector and organizing virtual travel events for overseas tourists.

The province held the 'Gyeonggi Online Travel Mart,' a specialized online business meeting in the tourism sector, for three days from September 15 to 17.

The Gyeonggi Online Travel Mart was conducted with 28 tourism companies from Gyeonggi Province introducing major tourist attractions and travel products, and conducting online consultations with overseas buyers through a pre-booking system.

The travel mart event brought together 80 travel agencies from 13 overseas countries including Southeast Asia, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong to conduct over 320 consultations with Gyeonggi Province tourism companies. The event received positive reviews for creating new tourism demand through online meetings with overseas buyers that have been difficult to access due to COVID-19.

While individual online business consultation meetings have been held under the auspices of the Korea Tourism Organization, this marks the first time a metropolitan local government has hosted a large-scale online business consultation meeting covering the tourism industry and overseas markets.

The province is also promoting a virtual travel event targeting the recovering Taiwan market.

Under the theme of 'Gyeonggi Province, Where I Have Been,' the event targets social media (SNS) users in Taiwan who have already visited the capital area, and participants can complete missions through a chatbot by uploading travel photos taken in Gyeonggi Province with hashtags by November 11 to participate in the event.

A popular Taiwan influencer A-Yuan (阿圓), who has maintained a connection with Gyeonggi Province since 2017, will conduct extensive promotion of Gyeonggi Province tourism through YouTube and Instagram, and prizes related to Gyeonggi Province travel will be provided to randomly selected event participants.

The province plans to go beyond simply helping participants recall their memories and will conduct a second event with the theme 'Gyeonggi Province, Where I Want to Go' until November 8 based on the first event results. Based on the first event data, the province plans to actively communicate with participants by constructing 16 travel types using artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, and recommending tourism destinations, dining, and experience courses tailored to users through social media (SNS).

The province is also developing 'private tour' products to meet non-contact tourism demand after COVID-19. With 'safety' becoming an increasingly important value in determining tourism destinations, demand for private tours that minimize contact with other tourists is growing. As a process of preparing for after the coronavirus pandemic ends rather than immediately, the province plans to develop private tours into high-value-added products and use them as an opportunity for Gyeonggi tourism's resurgence.

Choi Yong-hun, head of the Province's Tourism Division, said, "The inflow of overseas tourists due to COVID-19 is nearly zero, and in this situation, no one knows when it will ease or how the tourism market will change even after it does," adding, "The lessons from SARS and MERS teach us that we must prepare in advance. Gyeonggi Province is making every effort to respond preemptively to the post-COVID-19 situation."