Visitors to the promotional booth of the cultural experience zone at Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province, on Jan. 22 try virtual reality goggles for an immersive view of domestic tourist destinations. (Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism)
By Park Hye Ri
Athletes from around the world competing in this year’s Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics (Gangwon 2024) can explore domestic tourist sites.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Tourism Organization on Jan. 24 said that during the competition, they are running a promotional tourism booth at Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province.
In line with the tourism promotional campaign Visit Korea Year 2023-24, the booth offers immersive virtual reality (VR) content featuring Hallyu (Korean Wave) stars introducing captivating tourist destinations like Jeju Island and Busan. A photo booth there also allows visitors to take pictures with traditional Korean props.
A promotional video shows tourist destinations and vibrant Hallyu content, while the booth promotes convenient tourism services like the 1330 travel interpretation hotline, which offers assistance in accessing tourism information on Korea, and the multilingual tourism data web platform VisitKorea.
Ushers fluent in languages like English and Chinese are ready to help visitors.
After visiting the booth, a Finnish biathlete said he was most impressed by the interactive tourism VR content introduced by Hallyu stars. Excited over his upcoming travel around Korea next week, he added how great it was to get a preview of the country.
Meanwhile, 34 leading influencers and journalists visiting Korea to promote the nation as a winter tourist destination on the occasion of Gangwon 2024 on Jan. 19 visited the booth.
Malaysian influencer Vivian Liu Siew said that after experiencing things in winter like Gangwon 2024’s opening ceremony and ice fishing, she liked seeing so much snow, which is unavailable in her home country, and that she wants to visit Korea again.
She shared her thoughts on social media and recounted the vivid scenes from the ceremony and Korean winter that she encountered before and after the competition’s opening.
“Gangwon 2024 is a great opportunity for national teams and spectators visiting from around the world to experience our culture and promote the appeal of Korean tourism,” said Kim Geun-ho, director-general of the ministry’s Tourism Industry Policy Bureau. “We will continue expanding our policy capacity to promote Korea’s exclusive K-culture and regional charm.”
hrhr@korea.kr
