Jeju Tourism Organisation hopes to increase Indian tourist numbers to the island (which is part of South Korea) from the current 2400 visitors to 10,000. Speaking at a recent roadshow in Mumbai, Park Hong Bai, president, Jeju Tourism Organisation said, “In 2017 we saw around 2400 tourist arrivals from India. India is one of the 174 countries that do not need a visa to visit Jeju. So that makes it very attractive and we are hoping to increase that number to at least 10,000 with support from the travel trade and media. Jeju is a volcanic island and we offer lots of nature, heritage, UNESCO World Heritage Sites which is sure to attract Indians. Indians can also combine Jeju with their visits to Hong Kong or China. We have good connectivity from Hong Kong, China, Kuala Lumpur, Japan and even Bangkok.”
Commenting on the MICE traffic from India into Jeju, he said, “Presently, MICE groups from India is almost nil. But we have excellent MICE infrastructure and we are ranked 17th in the world as a MICE destination. So we hope to attract this segment from India.”
The island is first planning to tap the general tourists first and then explore the other segments like wedding, MICE, etc. Jeju Tourism is talking to film production houses and planning FAM trips to Jeju for film industry representatives. This year, Jeju Tourism Organisation, along with Korea Tourism Organisation New Delhi Office and their partners in India, invited Indian celebrities and winners of Miss India to Jeju to promote their island to younger consumers in India. He also added that the island has six Indian restaurants offering both vegetraian and non vegetarian fare.
Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and Jeju Tourism Organisation held the joint tourism presentation recently in New Delhi and Mumbai. This is their second tourism presentation in India after 2015. The main focus of the delegation which included tourism companies form Jeju was to introduce the major tourism resources and tourism infrastructure in Jeju to local Indian travel agents.
Jeju is the biggest island of Republic of Korea, and is located at the southern most part of the peninsula. With its distinct four seasons, the island is one of the most visited tourism destination in north-east Asia, it attracted almost 16 million tourists to the island last year. Jeju also plans to to expand
its tourism market beyond neighbouring countries and southeast Asia. Among 3.6 million international tourists to Jeju in 2016, over 90 per cent were from China, Japan, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian countries. Jeju will be working with Korea Tourism Organisation and Hong Kong Tourism Board to boost promotion of each region.