Travel plan idea blog

Torism Marketing in England can provide a model for South Korea

Here's an article that praises the way England has increased tourism through promoting Harry Potter and similar invented tourist attractions:

The British people knew they couldn't draw significant numbers of tourists with their featureless attractions. In recent days, Britain turned a robbery in which 50 million pounds (W90 billion) was stolen into a popular tourist destination. The program includes a guided tour of the crime scenes, including a vault from which the money was taken, a storehouse where a custodian was held hostage, and the safehouse where the suspects were caught.

In places where there was nothing to sell, people created something new. A disused mine in the southwestern region of Cornwall has been turned into a giant botanical experiment called the Eden Project. Like some kind of primeval garden, it's more than just a botanical zone. In spring, the Project hosts "Blue Mania," a hands-on event in which tourists help plant one million flower bulbs. Since its opening in March 2001, more than nine million tourists have visited Project Eden, helping it rank fifth among Britain's tourist attractions. About 500 full-time employees of the park have been recruited from the nearby area, 75 percent of whom were jobless before the Project was founded.

The article goes on to mention some formerly popular attractions in Korea that I've never heard of, probably because they aren't marketed very well. The idea is that promoting Korean tourism more effectively could help reduce the 7 billion dollar travel defecit South Korea saw in 2006.

Posted by James Trotta at February 9, 2007 2:17 AM | TrackBack