NJ Park and Randy Snape of the KTO
A gracious welcoming team: Susan Lee-Pierce and Kangrok Kim of the KTO with their junior colleague Jessie Lee
Colleagues from Imagine Travel
Katrina Franklin and Vanessa Reid
Milka Cook of Travel Network and
Mimi Hines of Skyway Tours (standing) with Roger Boyadjian of Sevan Travel and Hymie Lebowitz and Yonit Grinberg of YYZ Travel.
It’s always nice to get together with clients and friends at Christmas – but even nicer this year for the folks at the Korea Tourism Organization.
That’s because a Korean attraction was named to the coveted New7 Wonders of Nature list this year. Jeju Island has received an impressive three UNESCO designations: Biosphere Reserve, World Heritage Site and Global Geopark. And with its new status to be officially confirmed in 2012, it’s sure to put Korea firmly on the world traveller map.
To celebrate, the KTO hosted some 80 travel agents and tour operators to an evening of Korean cuisine and entertainment at Sariwon restaurant just north of Toronto.
“Last year we enjoyed a 10 percent inbound growth,” NJ Park, director of the KTO in Toronto, told me. “Perhaps not quite so high for 2011, but we will still be on the plus side.” Korea is often sold in combination with other countries, and stopovers of 2 or 3 nights in Seoul are always popular.
Harish Shiroff of Indus Travels told me that their clients usually book Korea in conjunction with Thailand or Malaysia – and he was astonished at the demand from friends and families of the 20,000 (!) Canadian ESL teachers working in Korea.
One guest told me how surprised she was by how much South Korea has to offer. “Seoul is modern and clean and totally high tech – I didn’t expect that!”
And many who were present mentioned the joys of Korean cuisine – incredibly varied regionally, according to the KTO’s Randy Snape. Yet another reason to visit Korea!
