48 managers from the eight most competitive travel agencies in the South Korea—the largest delegation so far, came to Yichang to inspect the travel routes and products of the Yichang City on Nov 22. At the same time, a delegation led by the deputy mayor Zhou Zhengying went to Pusan for market promotion. It has also been the largest promotion activity to the South Korea in the past two years.

　　With the expanding exchanges between the two countries, mutual visits are getting more and more frequent. Currently more than 1,000 flights run between China and the South Korea, which enable more than 10 million passengers to travel back and forth every year. Thus many people are able to travel between the two countries within one day. From Oct 18, the direct flight from Yichang to Pusan was open for the first time. The mutual cooperation between Yichang and the South Korea in terms of tourism is going to boom.

　　“Not only should we ‘go out’, but also we will ‘invite others to come in’”, the general director of the Yichang Travel Bureau Kong Lei said. “We can ‘go out’ only after we ‘bring in outside tourism resources’ first. Afterwards we can attract more resources from the outside when we ‘go out’. In this way, the outside world will be attracted by Yichang and even fall in love with this city.”

　　48 VIPs in the South-Korean tourism market were invited to Yichang, which manifested that greater efforts are made by the Yichang people to further enter the market of the South Korea and popularize the tourism brands of our own city. This delegation from the South Korea consists of some specialized travel agencies, and some other powerful and famous travel agencies such as the South Korea Weidong Ferry Co. Ltd, DAMOA, HANATUO and CDT, etc. They are regarded as the biggest group-travel agencies in their own country, organizing more than 2 million tourists for inbound tourism to China every year. During this week, these managers would spend most time inspecting the Three Gorges Grand Waterfalls, Golden Lion Cave, Tribes of the Three Gorges and other scenic spots. Then it would be followed by a travel promotion meeting, at which both sides would conduct the discussions in terms of publicity and related investment, policy rewards, travel-route design, assorted service infrastructures, travel price and travel souvenirs for opening the South Korea’s inbound tourism market.

　　Yichang has expanded its strength of promotion and marketing to the overseas markets in recent years. The travel agencies in the South Korea has also become more interested in Yichang’s tourism products and been actively promoting the tourism products and routes of Yichang which have been publicized through the travel websites, newspapers and other social media. During this visit, the travel agencies of the South Korea indicated that they would promote Yichang as the important travel destination among its domestic tourists, and by taking advantage of the direct flight newly opened from Pusan to Yichang, they would strive for achieving bigger breakthrough in the domestic promotion of Yichang’s tourism in a year or two. In addition, the direct flights between Yichang and Seoul, Daegu and Cheongju will be open in 2016.

　　On the other hand, the tourism promotion delegation led by Zhou Zhengying will promote the brand of “Falling in Love with Yichang” in Pusan to exploit a bigger tourist market through the marketing meetings, product showcase activities and other methods. It will definitely play an important role in revitalizing the overseas tourism market and increasing the number of international tourists. (Reporter: Wang Ying; correspondent: Fan Ruiqing)