[Herald Economy = Correspondent Ham Young-hoon] The Seoul Tourism Organization held the '2023 Seoul International Travel Mart (SITM)' at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) for five days until the 24th to promote the recovery of international tourism demand and revitalize the tourism industry. And in the endemic era, we are going to promote tourism in earnest.

Through this event, a forum for B2B business exchanges to discuss the composition of new tourism products is held, and the latest tourism trends are introduced and opportunities are provided to promote local tourism resources.

This event will be held simultaneously online with Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), and was planned to promote tourism in Seoul and Korea through the invitation of overseas buyers and participation in local government tourism organizations in the face of the COVID-19 endemic.

Seoul International Travel Mart holding illustration

'Seoul International Travel Mart (SITM)', which is in its 9th year this year, consists of various programs such as △Buyers Familiarization Tour, △B2B Business Consulting △Opening Ceremony, △Tourism Promotion Booth Operation, and △Seoul Tourism Seminar.

On the 20th, a pre-familiarization tour was held for invited overseas buyers to provide opportunities to experience various 'Seoul lifestyle' such as traditional markets, mountain climbing, Han River waterside experience, and K-culture. He sent a message of support to the industry. Through this welcome night, the network between overseas buyers and domestic sellers, which was stopped due to COVID-19, will be rebuilt.

At B2B Travel Mart, on-site consultations between overseas buyers and domestic sellers and video consultations in the online space are conducted respectively. On-site counseling will be held at DDP Art Hall 1 for two days from June 21 (Wed) to 22 (Thu), and online video counseling will be held from June 23 (Fri) to 24 (Sat).

At the Seoul Tourism Seminar, which will be held on the 22nd, 'Seoul Lifestyle' will be introduced and content lectures will be held that can be used to develop Seoul tourism products.

The tourism promotion booth will be operated in the DDP lobby from June 21 (Wed) to 22 (Thu), and 5 Seoul startups (Rain4 Company, R&1, Hitchmad, Maeolmaeju, Seoul Oorae Store) will participate in the tourism department. We plan to provide a variety of related services and experience services.

The B2B Business Consultation is a core program of 'Seoul International Travel Mart (SITM)' and 768 foreign buyers and domestic sellers participate.

354 overseas buyers (135 offline, 219 online) and 414 domestic sellers registered, showing an increase of more than 26.5% compared to last year (607). With the number of pre-consultation matching (PSA) cases exceeding 2,700, we can see the keen interest of participating companies in the endemic era.

In particular, this year, offline buyers were invited to 135 companies, a 55% increase compared to last year (87 companies), greatly increasing the scale of offline face-to-face consultations. It is expected to become the largest business venue in Korea that not only rebuilds the domestic and international tourism networks that have collapsed due to COVID-19, but also produces practical results.

As for the characteristics of participating buyers, local outbound travel agencies are the most common (80%), followed by theme tourism (6%) and lodging (4%). Participating sellers are travel agencies (47%), medical institutions (14%), and lodging (12%). Last year's consulting performance was 2,386 business meetings, 804 double contract consultations, and about 32.4 billion won.

In addition, the 2023 Seoul International Travel Mart (SITM) tourism promotion booth will be reborn as an event to realize win-win tourism between Seoul and the provinces and publicize Korean tourism together, with the participation of local government tourism agencies as well as autonomous districts in Seoul. Through this, it is expected to promote local tourism resources and encourage foreign tourists visiting Seoul to visit local areas naturally.

Participating institutions are 8 autonomous districts in Seoul (Gangnam-gu, Gangbuk-gu, Gangseo-gu, Gwangjin-gu, Nowon-gu, Dobong-gu, Songpa-gu, Jung-gu) and 4 local governments (Gangwon-do Tourism Organization, Daegu Culture and Arts Agency, Busan Tourism Organization, Iksan City).

Gil Ki-yeon, CEO of the Seoul Tourism Organization, said, “In the face of the endemic era, the 2023 Seoul International Travel Mart (SITM) will lay the foundation for revitalizing the domestic and international tourism industry and promote the ‘Seoul lifestyle’ to the world. “I will do my best to advance the era of 30 million foreign tourists in Seoul through this event,” he said.