Also I find it interesting that Australia’s marketing campaign was brought up. The spend over 20 million dollars a year marketing to Americans. Korean spends about 10% on that marketing to Americans yet has more visitors. Just keep that in mind. It takes a considerable amount of time and money to build a country brand. It doesn’t happen overnight.

I think the outrageous part of this suggestion was that crazy “infrastructure” word. If you had said, “We can send the ajummas around to to clean up the mess” they’d have gone for it.

I wonder if David wants to be the: Country Brand Director ?

“Reform or remove the regulations that hinder foreign businesses in Korea and deter FDI.”

Never. Not unless there’s an economic meltdown of Great Depression proportions. And even then, you’d probably have the hard-liners taking over and closing the ports and airports forever and ever.

I’d like to see Korea manage its brand better myself, since there really are a lot of great things about the country that people around the world would enjoy seeing. But at the end of the day, insular is as insular does. If the powers that be in the ROK simply want the tourist dollars alone, they’ll continue to flounder about with crappy ad campaigns that make people decide they’d have more fun in China or Japan.

If they want to succeed (long-term) in the tourism game, they’re going to have to loosen their grip and realize that being a part of the global tourism economy is a two-way street. Will every Korean have to learn English? Of course not. Will they have to allow us dirty waeguk-in to get in-country cell phones without being reamed for a 300,000 won deposit, just because we’re foreign?

IMO, that would be a small starting step.

FWIW, I love Korea. I’m having a great time here. But I just have to scratch my head when I read pieces like this where Korea politicians are being offered good advice as to how to market the country as a tourist destination, and they completely and willfully ignore it.

If you’re not going to do it right, why bother doing it at all?

Yet, none of the suits seem to care. Nothing will change on this score. As I said — and as the author of this original piece makes clear — it would take a sea change in thinking for things to happen any differently. And with Koreans, talking about Korea and the national “image” and face and pride and all — that’ll never happen.

Expect shwooshing graphics, syrupy voiceovers, and pride-filled statistical bragadocio to mark all tourism branding.

Did you guys know that Korea is “the hub of fashion” in Asia now? So says this year’s press materials at Seoul Fashion Week.

Is this site a “hub” behind?