(Fort Lee, NJ)March 30, 2006 - The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) took part in the first ever ASTA International Destination Expo (IDE) which took place from March 21 – 25 in the city of Prague in the Czech Republic.

This event gathered almost 1,200 ASTA members including local suppliers and it served as a launching pad and introduction to next year’s event, the Jeju, Korea IDE. Mr. Jong Min Kim, President and CEO of KTO, and Mr. Myung-Pyo Hong, Chairman of the Korea Tourist Association of Jeju honored the event with their presence and joined a Korean delegation of 62 members who played an important role in making Korea’s participation at the IDE an absolute success.

KTO had the biggest and most attractive booth on the trade show floor, featuring authentic Korean drawings, hostesses in traditional clothing, souvenirs from Jeju, a caricature-drawing section and of course an extensive repertoire of information on the destination. A separate stand was also available for pre-registration for the 2007 Jeju, Korea IDE and many hundreds of delegates did take advantage of this.

Kathryn Sudeikis, President and CEO of ASTA stopped in for a visit of the booth, greeted and met with the Korean delegation and took pictures with several of the officers.

While in Prague KTO and the Jeju Provincial government held a destination seminar that was broken up in three parts lasting a total of one hour, which included two five-minute breaks with pop quizzes and door prizes. The first part presented an overview of Korea and focused on three of Korea’s most important attractions, Seoul, Busan, and Gyeongju. The second part centered solely on Jeju and revealed 10 secrets of this island to the audience, and lastly the third part emphasized the 2007 Jeju Korea IDE, with all the details on transportation, accommodation, and the official tours to be offered at the event. The day after a press conference was held to announce next year’s IDE. The entire event was closed with a magnificent gala dinner for all the delegates sponsored by KTO and the Jeju Provincial Government, which featured traditional drumming and dancing mixed in perfect harmony with modern instruments and styles, leaving the audience wanting more. During the gala dinner several prizes were given to those delegates randomly selected from the bowl where they had left their business cards earlier. The prizes included two round trip tickets in business class with Korean Air plus five days accommodations for the 2007 Jeju, Korea IDE.

KTO along with the Jeju Provincial Government will host the 2007 Jeju Korea IDE in the beautiful island of Jeju. It will take place from March 25 – 29 and it will be the first IDE ever to be held in Asia.
Both Korean carriers, Asiana Airlines and Korean Air will have many gateways throughout the US and they will offer an agent discount to ASTA members; agents flying from San Francisco can fly for $300 dollars; from Seattle and LA tickets for $380 dollars; and from Chicago and NY the prize is $399 dollars, all this in economy class.
If the agents fly from DC, Atlanta, Dallas, and Honolulu, they will pay 75% off from the regular economy class fare or 75% off the regular business class fare and 50% off for the spouse if the agent chooses to fly in this class.

Some of the hotels where agents can choose to stay include the Shilla Hotel, Hotel Lotte, Hyatt Regency, and many others. All hotels will be offering prices that are more than 50% off the regular rack rate giving the delegates prices as low as $120 dollars per night at super deluxe hotels like the three mentioned before.

For more information about the Jeju, Korea IDE please visit www.astanet.com and register there, or contact Luis A. Maravi at luism@kntoamerica.com