South Korea's Ahn Hyun-Soo, left, celebrates his gold medal with silver medalist and fellow Korean Lee Ho-Suk, during the medal ceremony for the Short Track Speed Skating Men's 1000 meters at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, Sunday Feb. 19, 2006. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)



A Growing Fierce Competition among Travel Agencies

It seems that local travel agencies have already stepped into fierce competition to entice prospective Korean and Japanese tourists after a visa waive announcement for those who stay less than 90 days. One of the local agencies, Mirae Express com., advertised on Feb. 18 that the company would serve 50% off their fares (round trip fare: 95,000 won) to all of its cruise passengers except for weekends, whose vessels shuttle between two cities from Busan to Fukuoka. The high-speed vessel named as KOBIHO shuttles four times every day, and it takes 2 hours and 55 minutes from Busan to Fukuoka.

According to a source at the cruise agency, it can be estimated that the number of the Korean and Japanese passengers who used the cruise last year amounted to 220,000, and he also stated, “Due to the short-term visa waive policy between the two countries, we prepared this cruise fare discount event.” Another source working at the travel field said, “It seems that the number of both countries’ tourist would increase, and cultural interchange between two countries would also be activated.”

AS it was estimated that over 2,000,000 of Japanese tourists visited Busan last year, in the event the visa waive is executed, the local tourism-related agencies including hotels expect that much more Japanese tourists will visit Busan as time goes on, and aggressively prepare for it.

A source at Busan Paradise Hotel said, “We plan to hold a tourism exhibition in Tokyo including other cities of Japan, aimed to promote Busan sightseeing and hotels.” Park Chi Young, Hana Tour, added, “Due to the visa waive announcement, more than 20%~30%, compared to last year, will increase this year, and Hana will expedite its marketing that is targeted to prospective Japanese tourists.”
/ 입력시간: 2006. 02.20. 09:31