World Travel Market 2014 will be Korea Tourism Organisation’s biggest ever in every sense! A new brand slogan “Imagine Your Korea”, confirmed headline sponsor of the “WTM Buyers Club Lounge” and the visit of a new CEO, will create a platform for us to showcase the very best of our destination and strive to reach 15 million visitors to Korea by the end of 2015.

Buyers club members will be treated to an exclusive party and networking event on the evening of 4^th November’, which will be the official launch of ‘Imagine Your Korea’ and include entertainment flown in from Korea, in the form of a K-Pop band and break dance troupe. This not-to-be-missed highlight of WTM 2014 will of course be open to Buyers Club members and KTO’s own invited guest list.

One of our key messages this year is to position the country as a ‘Sports Tourism’ hub for all sorts of different professional and amateur pursuits. This is the legacy of having hosted pretty much all the biggest sporting events in the world (summer Olympics, FIFA World Cup, World Athletics Championships, F1) and now we are working towards the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Next year Korea will host the ‘Taekwondo World Cadet Championships 2015’, within the new Muju Takewondowon Park and the city of Gwangju will be the location of ‘Universidad 2015’.

Furthermore, we continue to be a global leader in the MICE sector, a major destination for cruise passengers visiting North Asia and a major focus for health, wellbeing and medical tourism programmes. UNESCO inscribed  ‘Namhansanseong Fortress’ on their World Heritage site in 2014 and this is something the travel trade can learn about on our new online training Site: www.gokoreatraining.com which is being well received by travel agents.

On our stand AS450 we have many DMC partners waiting to do business with current and new partners, alongside the Korea Food Tourism Association, who will be delivering Korean canapés and Korean cocktails to attendees. So make sure to stop by our stand!