Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choi Hwi-young proposed to China that next year and the following year be jointly designated as "Korea-China Tourism Years," on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Tuesday that Choi attended the 13th APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting held in the Macao Special Administrative Region of China on Monday as the head of the Korean government delegation, where he discussed such measures to strengthen cooperation. In a meeting with Sun Yeli, Minister of Culture and Tourism of China, the host country of this meeting, Choi emphasized the importance of people-to-people exchange between the two countries and proposed jointly designating 2027-2028 as "Korea-China Tourism Years," on the occasion of the "APEC Summit" to be held in Shenzhen, China, in November this year.
In response, Sun agreed, saying, "Korea and China are absolutely important tourism markets for each other, and the key is to enable us to meet more often," and replied that the two sides should pursue specific discussions going forward. Sun also requested close cooperation, saying, "In preparing for the 'APEC Summit' to be held in China this year, we need Korea's advanced experience from successfully hosting the 'APEC Summit' last year."
Following his discussion with Sun, Choi went on to preside over a series of individual bilateral talks with Widiyanti Putri Wardhana, Indonesia's Minister of Tourism; Lam Thi Phuong Thanh, Vietnam's Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism; and Murata Shigeki, Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, conducting close-contact diplomacy to attract tourists. At these meetings, Choi discussed with the ministers of each country cooperation measures to invigorate mutual tourism exchange, including tourism product marketing cooperation, visa easing, and improving immigration convenience. He also introduced the "Tourism Plus-Tech Project," which identifies promising technology companies in the tourism industry, and the "AI-Based Regional Tourism Leading Project," in which local governments, businesses, and academia collaborate.
"This APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting was an arena for strategic diplomacy that substantially elevated bilateral relations with key exchange countries, including China, by utilizing the stage of a multilateral consultative body," Choi said. "We will do our utmost in follow-up measures so that the achievements of the consecutive talks with major countries quickly lead to growth in inbound tourism to Korea."
