Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In Chon (left) on July 11 at the Grand Hyatt Seoul poses for photos with the K-pop girl group NewJeans — (from second from left) Haerin, Hanni, Danielle and Minji — and acting Korea Tourism Organization President Seo Young-choong (far right) at the ceremony for the group’s appointment as honorary tourism ambassador.
By Xu Aiying
Photos = Jeon Han
Video = Lee Jun Young
K-pop girl group NewJeans is this year’s honorary ambassador for promoting domestic tourism to the world.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In Chon on July 11 presented the group with the appointment plaque for the post at the hotel Grand Hyatt Seoul.
Global advertising for tourism in Korea this year targets people in their 20s and 30s. Accordingly NewJeans will launch a promotional campaign targeting youth, who account for a third of visitors to the country.
“I hope that NewJeans’ ads imprint Korean tourism on global youth in a sophisticated manner to create the desire to experience the country in person,” Minister Yu said. “Through NewJeans’ role as honorary ambassador for tourism in Korea, we hope to attract more visitors from abroad in the second half of the year.”
“We’re really happy over our appointment as honorary tourism ambassador for Korea,” group member Minji added. “We’ll be more than happy to promote Korea’s diverse appeal.”
The ads released that day came in two parts — gourmet food and experiences — under the concept “Koreans’ Korea.”
Unlike those introducing Korean food, the gourmet clip shows the many places and ways Koreans enjoy their food like chicken, gimbap (seaweed rice rolls) and gukbap (rice with meat stew) by region, venue and situation.
The experience video shows unique interactive content suitable for people of any age like esports, swimming pools at Hanok (traditional homes) and traditional handicrafts. Reflecting the growing global popularity of the Korean language and culture, it also promoted Korean and recommended tours in Hangeul designs like “choncance,” a neologism meaning “countryside vacation,” and jagae gongye (mother-of-pearl crafts).
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In Chon (left) on July 11 introduces videos promoting travel in the country featuring NewJeans at the ceremony for the girl group’s appointment as honorary ambassador of Korea tourism at the Grand Hyatt Seoul in Seoul’s Yongsan-gu District.
These videos were also released online this day on the KTO’s YouTube channel Imagine Your Korea. Starting with Times Square in New York, they will be aired on billboards in major world cities like Tokyo, Shanghai (China), Bangkok (Thailand), Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Mexico City.
And during the Paris Summer Olympics opening on July 26, related short-form content will appear on digital screens across the French capital.
Also slated this year is “K100,” a short-form series promoting tourism in Korea featuring 100 recommendations from 100 people. NewJeans members will recommend what to do in Korea such as visiting HiKR Ground, a tourism publicity center featuring K-pop and media art near Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul, and making user-customized cosmetics.
xuaiy@korea.kr
