▒ Welcome to Korea Travel Conference 2008

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Counts : 1464 Delegate Roster >>

Let me first extend my deepest appreciation to all of you for your earnest, ongoing efforts in regard to the development of Korea's tourism industry.

Tourism is a environment-friendly industry, the future potential of which is enormous and means more to the economy today than ever before. The perception of it as a critical driver of the economy in the 21st century continues to influence people and businesses throughout the world, and governments have been racing to create initiatives that boost tourism and make their own destinations more competitive.

In 2007, inbound tourists to Korea numbered 6.5 million while more than double that number, almost 13.3 million, flew abroad. It is a crucial time for Korea to make efforts to bring more visitors from overseas and redirect some of the outbound traffic to destinations within the country. The measures we need to take to address these issues include improvements to the current tourism infrastructure and customer service, differentiation of tour programs, deregulation, and powerful branding and promotion of the country as an attractive travel destination.

The Korea Travel Conference 2008 aims to help us identify opportunities and seek ideas that will address some of the pressing issues we face. The conference sessions, which include detailed discussions involving experts from different fields, cover such topics as climate change, government policy, regional tourism marketing and branding strategies, under the over-arching theme of "The Present and Future of Tourism."

I sincerely hope that this conference, by addressing our concerns in tourism, will serve as a major stepping stone for advancing the tourism industry of Korea. In this same vein, I look forward to your full support and participation.

Thank you.

Korea Tourism Organization
CEO Oh, Jee-Chul

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