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(Yonhap Interview) German-born tourism chief wants to turn Korea into 'Asia's Switzerland'
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Feb. 19 (Yonhap) -- The German-born head of South Korea's state-funded tourism agency said Friday that his two main goals are to turn South Korea into "Asia's Switzerland" and to succeed as the country's first foreign-born president of a major public firm.
"South Korea has the potential to draw tens of millions of tourists annually," said Lee Charm, head of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), in an interview with Yonhap News Agency at his office in downtown Seoul. "It has everything to satisfy tourists such as urban culture, shopping, food, and scenic places," he added. | | Lee Charm |
The German-born naturalized Korean was appointed to his current post last July and has since been at the vanguard of efforts to publicize South Korea's charms to a global audience.
Around 7.8 million foreigners visited South Korea last year, the first time ever that the number of inbound tourists to the country topped the 7 million mark.
Lee said, however, that compared with the 18 million tourists who visited Hong Kong and the 12 million who traveled to Singapore last year, South Korea still needs to do more.
Marketing is key to attracting more foreign tourists, he said. As such, his agency launched the "Korea Be Inspired" campaign to promote South Korea's unique appeal. Lee says the current campaign has proven more successful than its predecessor, "Korea Sparkling," which brought up images of "cheap sparkling wine" for many Western travelers.
He also explained that the three key words in the KTO's public relations strategy are "Gi," a Korean term that translates as "universal energy" and is widely used in martial arts like taekwondo, "Heung," an intrinsic sense of joy, and "Jeong," or caring for others and putting them before oneself.
Lee said his personal background has greatly helped his work at the KTO. The 56-year-old, whose original name is Bernhard Quandt, came to Korea in 1978 to attend a religious event. He forfeited his German citizenship to become a naturalized Korean in 1986 and has since taken on a number of different roles, from teaching German to doing consultancy, acting, and hosting an English radio talk show.
His latest post before joining the KTO was as an adviser to the election campaign of President Lee Myung-bak, especially on his project to refurbish the country's four major rivers.
Fluent in Korean, English, and German, Lee Charm is now the first foreign-born figure to assume a key post at South Korea's public firm. He answered questions in Korean.  | | Lee Charm |
"(My appointment) shows that South Korean society has become more open. It gave a shock to foreigners," he said. "They are giving a new look to South Korea. In that sense, what I say abroad draws more attention."
Lee stressed, however, that South Korea's tourism industry can't grow with efforts only by himself and his agency.
"I am not a magician. It is important to enhance public awareness of the tourism industry for its full-scale growth," he said. "Public perception should be changed."
He said South Korea, focusing on developing automobile, shipbuilding, information-technology sector, and others, had not regarded tourism as an important industry until recently.
"We should present a vision that South Korea can become Asia's Switzerland, under the perception that tourism is an industry with great potential for development just as in Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong and Dubai," he said. "My job is to make many people share the vision and help it become realized as a national policy."
Lee admitted that it is a heavy burden being the first foreign-born figure to assume such a high-level post at a state-funded organization.
"I will have to strive not to make this first case in history the last one," he said, adding he wants to pave the way for more people of foreign origin to work at government agencies here.
With regard to tourism in North Korea, Lee said his agency will try to lure more foreigners to Mount Kumgang along the east coast and the border town of Kaesong, an ancient capital, once inter-Korean tourism businesses are resumed.
He said he also has a plan for joint tourism projects to Pyongyang, Mount Paekdu -- the highest peak on the Korean Peninsula located along the North's border with China -- and the Demilitarized Zone, a strip of unmanned land running across the peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between the two Koreas.
"To begin with, the government should open the door (to North Korea) and then we can start businesses promptly," he said.
Lee said the G-20 economic summit to be held in Seoul in November and the Formula One race, slated for October in the southern town of Yeongam, are expected to provide a further boost to South Korea's tourism marketing.
South Korea is currently staging the 2010-12 Visit Korea Year campaign.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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