(Ft. Lee, NJ) December 23, 2004 - Hallyu (Korean Wave) is responsible for Korea posting large gains in the tourism sector. After experiencing losses during the outbreaks in Asia, Korea posted the gains with foreign visitor receipts reaching $4.76 billion in the first ten months this year, up 11.3 percent from a year earlier.

During January-to-October of 2004, 4.79 million visitors (a record) visited Seoul, showing a 25.2 percent increase over last year. The bulk of the increase came from visitors as a result of Hallyu (Korean Wave) and the popularity of Korean pop culture in Japan and Southeast Asia countries.

Iraq, terrorism, and sluggish economies contributed to Asia-Pacific travel being hit hard in 2003. As the world situation improves in 2004 Asia-Pacific tourism is predicting a banner year for Korea as well.

2005 is designated as Visit Korea-Japan Year a historical tourism cooperative agreement between the two countries that follows the current U.S. travel trend of joint destination travel to Asia-Pacific.

Korea is aggressively placing itself as the destination of choice in Asia and as the hub of Asia-Pacific travel with its state-of-the-art Incheon International Airport to include expanded routes from Seoul throughout Asia-Pacific.

For more information on visiting Korea contact the KNTO at Telephone: (800) 868-7567 or E-mail: ny@kntoamerica.com