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김종덕 문화체육관광부

문화체육관광부 제 15대 장관 김종덕

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Tourism is Koreas new driving force
기고일
2015.04.03.
게시일
2016.02.03.
붙임파일
Tourism is Koreas new driving force


I extend my sincerest congratulations to The Korea Times on the publication of its 20,000th edition on behalf of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The Korea Times was born amid the devastation of the Korean War in 1950 and played an important role in letting the world know about Korea in the right way.

The Korea Times has shared both joys and sorrows with the modern history of the nation. During the Korean War, the newspaper was a prompt source of news in English for the United States Forces in Korea and served a pivotal role in promoting the nation to international visitors when it published "The Seoul Olympian," the official newspaper for the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. The Korea Times is beloved for introducing the excellence of Korea to the whole world and guiding the improvement of language skill of locals to this day.

An ever-increasing number of 14 million foreign tourists visited Korea last year and we aim to attract 20 million tourists a year by 2017. Right ahead of the era of 20 million foreign tourists a year, the world has a growing interest in Korea and I have great expectations about The Korea Times role in publicizing Korea overseas.

Tourism is the Korean governments new driving force for economic revitalization and one of the seven promising services sectors. Korea has a variety of tourist attractions combining tradition and modernity to charm the people of the world.

Some of the examples featuring our cultural heritage are "A Night at a Hanok," in which visitors can stay at Korean traditional houses to experience local cuisine and events "Temple Stay" to sample Koreas spiritual culture in traditional Buddhist temples and royal palace tours to understand Korean history and culture. Rich traditional and cultural heritage coming from our 5,000-year history will make an impression on foreign tourists.

Korea also puts effort to foster higher value-added, convergence tourism such as medical tourism linked to "hallyu," or the Korean wave, and meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) tourism. As hallyu sweeps across the globe and becomes increasingly popular in Europe, Russia, China and Japan, tourists from such countries take interest in Koreas superior medical technology and services and medical-related tour products. Promoting the MICE industry is another focal project.

According to the Union of International Associations, Korea hosted a total of 635 international events and received some 1.3 million international visitors, and was third in its annual ranking in 2013. We will further improve Koreas competitiveness in the MICE industry to invite more international meetings and events.

To provide the utmost level of convenience for foreign tourists to Korea, a guarantee of enough clean, safe accommodation is necessary. Unfortunately, hotels are categorized as "harmful" facilities in Korea and cannot be constructed near school zones according to the current law. Koreans have traditionally attached great importance to education and it is not easy to lift the restrictions. In the old days, some hotels were associated with entertainment businesses, leaving negative stereotypes with Koreans. However, things have changed now and Korean hotels offer world-class service to 14 million international visitors and host 635 international conferences a year.

The Korean government is making considerable efforts to improve awareness of hotels to remove regulations on hotel business near educational properties. If the law gets revised, at least 23 new hotels will be built in Seoul to tourists satisfaction as well as result in economic boost and job creation.

The French poet Anatole France once said, "Traveling is not just changing you place, but changing your opinions and prejudices." To live up to the expectations of foreign tourists who want to change their way of thinking and make memories in Korea, we first have to break prejudices of our own to provide a quality tourism experience and convenient lodgings. I believe that The Korea Times will be of help to publicize the diverse charms of Korea and once again reiterate my sincere congratulations to The Korea Times on the publication of its 20,000th issue.


Who is Kim Jong-deok?

Kim Jong-deok has been the head of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism since August 2014.
Born in 1957 in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Kim studied design at Hongik University, one of Koreas top art schools, and earned a masters degree at the Art Center College of Design in the United States. He later received a Ph.D in Communications at Seoul National University.

Kim served as a design professor of College of Fine Arts at Hongik University from 1991 to 2014, and dean of the Graduate School of Film and Digital Media and Graduate School of Advertising and Public Relations.

The minister has an extensive experience in the cultural field ― he worked for an advertising agency, produced the animated film "Wonderful Days" and established Borazone, a venture company specialized in digital content. He won several advertising awards including the Grand Prize in the category of confectionery and food at the Korea Advertising Awards and the Best Asian Television Commercial at the Shots Awards in the U.K. in 1996.

He was the president of the Korean Society of Design Science from 2010 to 2011.