Korea Tourism Organization stepped up its promotions in India this year on the back of the Visit Korea Year 2023/2024 campaign, and its marketing labour is starting to bear fruit.
Indian corporates are drawn to South Korea, with “many incentive travel groups” on the horizon, Satyender Kumar, assistant administrative manager, Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) India Office, told TTGmice.
Some 4,000 people from India’s HDFC Bank will head to Seoul for their incentive trip this month. Smaller incentive travel groups – such as 200 pax from Philips India and 400 pax from Bajaj Allianz – made landfall earlier this year.
“Queries continue to come in, and right now we’re trying to secure a 3,000-strong group from a large company,” he shared.
Most Indian corporates head to Seoul, although KTO is actively promoting destinations such as Busan, Jeju, and Gwangju.
When asked what is South Korea’s appeal, Satyender stated: “Indian corporates are looking for somewhere new, and hallyu is really strong here thanks to k-pop and k-dramas. It is also really easy to find vegetarian food. I have been to Seoul three times; I’m fully vegetarian and I’ve never had any trouble in obtaining vegetarian food.”
Aside from business events, KTO has also linked up with travel agencies Thomas Cook India and MakeMyTrip to lure more leisure travellers through marketing promotions and special offers. KTO runs B2C Korea Festivals in smaller cities like Gurugram, while large cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad New Delhi can expect to see both B2B and B2C roadshows.
KTO’s presence at PATA Travel Mart 2023 featured six inbound tour agencies with them.
