(Originally published in TOURISM)
In a report to industry partners, Tourism Saskatchewan's manager of international marketing Ted Hornung provides an insightful account of his participation at the CTC's Showcase Canada in Seoul, Korea: "The Korean market is changing and quite quickly at that," he notes. "For many years the Korean traveller was a group traveller sticking pretty close to BC, Alberta and Niagara Falls. This is changing because of increasing interest in the FIT market, with more fly/drive packages."
According to Hornung, Korean travellers are more fluent in English than they were, they benefit from higher disposable income, and they are not afraid to strike it out on their own. "There also is an increase in women-based tours, such as friends or mother/daughter trips. Koreans want to see interesting places; yet they want to experience them by 'doing' and becoming involved."
The following are some of the trends with room for growth for Canadian suppliers Hornung sees emerging in the Korean market:
* Expanding travel further East
* English-as-a-second-language programs
* Home stay programs
* More e-marketing
* Attending more consumer shows
* Experiential travel
* 50+ market
* Family travel
* Trekking
* Cuisine
Hornung says the age of travellers in the mother/daughter segment is generally between 40 and 60 years of age (for the parent) and 10 to 30 years of age (for the child). "The maximum travel time has not changed that much, with 10 to12-day maximums (door to door).
"There is also an increase in credit card companies getting into the travel business, offering their card users travel opportunities," Hornung goes on. "More and more Koreans are using the internet as a major source of their information gathering, but still are strongly drawn to book their travel with travel agencies." However, Hornung notes this is also starting to change.
In a report to industry partners, Tourism Saskatchewan's manager of international marketing Ted Hornung provides an insightful account of his participation at the CTC's Showcase Canada in Seoul, Korea: "The Korean market is changing and quite quickly at that," he notes. "For many years the Korean traveller was a group traveller sticking pretty close to BC, Alberta and Niagara Falls. This is changing because of increasing interest in the FIT market, with more fly/drive packages."
According to Hornung, Korean travellers are more fluent in English than they were, they benefit from higher disposable income, and they are not afraid to strike it out on their own. "There also is an increase in women-based tours, such as friends or mother/daughter trips. Koreans want to see interesting places; yet they want to experience them by 'doing' and becoming involved."
The following are some of the trends with room for growth for Canadian suppliers Hornung sees emerging in the Korean market:
* Expanding travel further East
* English-as-a-second-language programs
* Home stay programs
* More e-marketing
* Attending more consumer shows
* Experiential travel
* 50+ market
* Family travel
* Trekking
* Cuisine
Hornung says the age of travellers in the mother/daughter segment is generally between 40 and 60 years of age (for the parent) and 10 to 30 years of age (for the child). "The maximum travel time has not changed that much, with 10 to12-day maximums (door to door).
"There is also an increase in credit card companies getting into the travel business, offering their card users travel opportunities," Hornung goes on. "More and more Koreans are using the internet as a major source of their information gathering, but still are strongly drawn to book their travel with travel agencies." However, Hornung notes this is also starting to change.
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