September 19, 2011, 5:10pm
By MALOU M. MOZO
Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines — In a move to further boost the growth of the tourism industry among Asian countries, a new form of tourism package must be adopted to bring in more Western tourists to the east, an industry stakeholder proposed during the recently concluded East Asia Inter-Regional Tourism Forum (EATOF).
Jae Hee Jung, professor of the Department of Tourism and English of Hallyn College in Korea, suggested clustering Asian destinations offering the same tourism packages by lumping them as a single tourism package, a campaign which he dubbed as “Awesome Asia.”
Jung said an integrated tourism package among neighboring countries in Asia could benefit the entire region.
“We should let the whole world know. We should get out of the barriers of Asia. There is a big market out there,” he told the local media in an interview.
Jung said Cebu in the Philippines, Gangwon in South Korea and Tutorri in Japan, for instance, can offer a winter-summer sports package where tourists can experience nine days of winter and summer sports activities in three different countries.
Cebu’s summer sports activities could include kayaking, triathlon, biking, and trekking, among others. Korea and Japan, on the other hand can offer snowboarding, skiing, and aerial skiing as winter sports.
Gangwon, in particular, also has a sports academy.
Jung said potential tourists for this package are Australians and Europeans who “invest money to enjoy sporting activities.”
According to Jung, clustering Asian destinations and offering a similar tourism package could also work for festivals, healing tourism and volunteer tourism.
Volunteer tourism, he said, can also be a viable tour package and that tourists experience helping communities, by building homes for the poor, planting trees and cleaning up beaches.
In Korea, he noted activities that tourists can enjoy that allow them to experience local culture. These include kimchi-making and temple stays which he said are gaining popularity in Korea, with many foreigners experiencing life as a Buddhist.
Read more here
Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines — In a move to further boost the growth of the tourism industry among Asian countries, a new form of tourism package must be adopted to bring in more Western tourists to the east, an industry stakeholder proposed during the recently concluded East Asia Inter-Regional Tourism Forum (EATOF).
Jae Hee Jung, professor of the Department of Tourism and English of Hallyn College in Korea, suggested clustering Asian destinations offering the same tourism packages by lumping them as a single tourism package, a campaign which he dubbed as “Awesome Asia.”
Jung said an integrated tourism package among neighboring countries in Asia could benefit the entire region.
“We should let the whole world know. We should get out of the barriers of Asia. There is a big market out there,” he told the local media in an interview.
Jung said Cebu in the Philippines, Gangwon in South Korea and Tutorri in Japan, for instance, can offer a winter-summer sports package where tourists can experience nine days of winter and summer sports activities in three different countries.
Cebu’s summer sports activities could include kayaking, triathlon, biking, and trekking, among others. Korea and Japan, on the other hand can offer snowboarding, skiing, and aerial skiing as winter sports.
Gangwon, in particular, also has a sports academy.
Jung said potential tourists for this package are Australians and Europeans who “invest money to enjoy sporting activities.”
According to Jung, clustering Asian destinations and offering a similar tourism package could also work for festivals, healing tourism and volunteer tourism.
Volunteer tourism, he said, can also be a viable tour package and that tourists experience helping communities, by building homes for the poor, planting trees and cleaning up beaches.
In Korea, he noted activities that tourists can enjoy that allow them to experience local culture. These include kimchi-making and temple stays which he said are gaining popularity in Korea, with many foreigners experiencing life as a Buddhist.
Read more here
