Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Cho Yoonsun (second from right) greets popular Chinese online personalities who are visiting Korea at the Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul on Oct. 3.
A total of 13 well-known Chinese bloggers and online personalities, dubbed 網紅 in simplified Chinese, have been sharing their trip to Korea with all their social media fans.
All members of this group are famous online in the Chinese blogosphere. They use their fame and influence to actively communicate with various tiers of Chinese youth and to provide useful information to their consumers.
They were invited to Korea as part of the government’s 2016 Visit Korea Year tourism promotional project.
The group includes the manager of an online fan club for the Korean TV variety show “Running Man,” and specialists bloggers who focus on cosmetics, food and tourism.
During their five-day itinerary from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4, they did some sightseeing around Seoul, Chuncheon and Gunsan, and live-blogged in simplified Chinese and Mandarin about their time here.
Famous Chinese bloggers and online personalities chat with Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Cho Yoonsun (second from right) about Korean history, traditions and tourism.
Famous Chinese bloggers and online personalities meet Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Cho Yoonsun (right) on Oct. 3 in Seoul. They’ve been blogging and broadcasting online about their Korea trip, while enjoying traditional Korean experiences and meals.
On Sept. 30, the first day of their trip, they began by talking about various services at the airport that target overseas tourists, such as the global U-sim card rental service and the use of the high-speed train to the airport, and spoke from a personal point of view about the various “experience programs” that are available to individual travelers.
They told their followers and readers about Korea’s largest-ever shopping and tourism discount festival, the Korea Sale Festa, which started on Sept. 29, as well as all the related benefits that are available to Chinese and other non-Korean tourists, such as discount vouchers for shopping and hotels, and discounted tickets for K-pop concerts and other pop culture media events.
On Oct. 3, they visited the Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul and met with Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Cho Yoonsun. They talked about Korean traditions and tourism, and tried on some traditional Hanbok attire. They were able to sample some traditional tea while sitting in the famous Simsimheon (심심헌, 尋心軒) traditional Hanok home.
Minister Cho told the Chinese bloggers that, “Korea and China are the nearest neighbor to each other, and have shared their friendship over many years. I hope you can serve as a stepping stone to make our ties into a ‘sweet and noble friendship’ (芝蘭之交), as you lead online trends in China.”
Famous Chinese bloggers and online personalities pose for a photo with Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Cho Yoonsun (third from right) on Oct. 3 in Seoul.
By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
arete@korea.kr
