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Korea's push for tourism inroads
From CNN Correspondent Andrew Stevens
(CNN) -- Think South Korea and most people will think industry -- factories, high tech, mobile phones, cars and other symbols of an economic tiger. But a new push is trying to replace those images with all the attractions of a healthy tourist destination. Football's World Cup last year firmly placed South Korea on the tourism map in a way the 1988 Seoul Olympic games failed to achieve. The question now is, can it stay there? With so many Asian countries aggressively marketing themselves, how will Korea stand out? Its last tourist slogan was "Dynamic Korea", but South Korea argues it has much more to offer. "Personally I think that Korea's dynamic aspect is not all that Korea has to give and so I personally feel that "Discover Hidden Treasure" would be a good slogan and I feel that if tourists visit Korea they will be able to experience the hidden beauty," Minister of Culture and Tourism, Lee Chang-dong, told CNN. At the moment much of Korea's attraction may be novelty value -- going somewhere different. "It's a place we've never been before so we thought it'd be interesting to look at," explains tourist Alice Chu. "Just generally being able to come to a place where you read about historically and where you learn about and actually come and see the people. It sort of makes it real," says Micah, a tourist from Chicago. Korea's tourist authorities are anxious to promote the country's rich cultural heritage, derived from 5,000 years of history. Expectations
But what's luring tourists currently are things much more contemporary. Korean films, music and soap operas are hot in many parts of Asia. "We came here to see a concert -- Korean stars concert," two young Japanese girls told CNN. But what Korea is best known for is less glamorous -- the most heavily fortified border in the world which separates North and South Korea, who remain technically still at war with each other. "Realistically there is tension in Korean society because of North Korea but Koreans don't really feel that tension and I think that around the world that part has been overly emphasized," Lee says It certainly isn't stopping the new government's plans to develop tourism. Since the end of the Korean War 50 years ago South Korea focused on economic development; now it's tourism's turn. "We are viewing it as a new growth engine of the future," Lee maintains. The government has big expectations. By 2010, it wants Korea to be among the top 10 tourist destinations on the world, attracting 10 million tourists a year. That's an ambitious target. According to the Pacific Asia Travel Association, visitor arrivals in Korea last year hit 5.2 million, helped by the world's biggest football tournament. Compared with many of its Asian neighbors, arrival numbers are still low. But Korea has been an underdog before, sandwiched between Japan and China. And let's not forget the World Cup. They started as the 42nd best team in the world but ended battling for third place.
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