Korea Tour : Turning the DMZ into vibrant tourism zone

Hong Seung-pyo, head of the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization, hopes to transform a desolate DMZ (demilitarized zone) into a tourist destination.

 

This year, Mr. Hong established an ecotourism area and hosted concerts, exhibitions and educational programs on both sides of the border.

 

One of the province’s tourism success stories is at Camp Greaves, the US Army base set up at the DMZ following the Korean Armistice Agreement of 1953 and closed down in 1997.

 

The place was reopened for tourists in 2013 and was a backdrop for pan-Asia's hit soldier drama "Descendants of the Sun" earlier this year. Since then it has become one of the best Hallu (Korean wave) tourist attractions.

 

The joint training space in the drama has been renovated and the accommodation and indoor sports facilities are now under refurbishment.

 

A plan is underway to create a travel package covering a variety of local specialties, from the dairy industry and vineyards to snow parks with sledding facilities and water parks.

 

"Six million tourists are expected to visit Camp Graves," Mr. Hong said in an interview with the Korea Herald last week.

 

Mr. Hong, who became the head of the GTO last year, opened foreign tourists for further improvement.

 

This year, GTO opened a multi-lingual website serving English, Japanese, Chinese and Thai, and opened an account for the Chinese social media platform, Weibo. GTO has actively worked with major travel agencies in China to create packages for Gyeonggi Province.

 

Mr. Hong has also promoted the MICE industry, a market for conferences, incentives, meetings and exhibitions. GTO is investing 800 million won ($ 682,000) to support MICE and promote overseas facilities and activities.

 

"The MICE industry is going to take Gyeonggi tourism to the next level," Hong said.

 

On a more day-to-day level, Hong has revitalized a cafe street in Bundang, just south of Seoul, and opened theme parks spotlighting the hit hallyu variety show “Running Man” and traditional culture.

 

Mr. Hong is additionally putting in efforts to host medicine-related conferences in the area in the future.

 

“We expect positive economic ripple effects from such seminars, which will lead to full reservations of lodgings and restaurants,” he said.