The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Friday that Minister Choi Hwi-young attended the 13th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Tourism Ministers Meeting in Macau on Thursday as chief representative, discussing digital innovation in tourism and ways to strengthen multilateral cooperation.
According to the ministry, Choi held a series of bilateral talks with four countries — China, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam — exchanging views on practical cooperation measures to invigorate mutual tourism exchanges, including marketing cooperation for tourism products, visa easing and improved entry and exit convenience.
In particular, in a meeting with Sun Yeli, Minister of China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the host nation of this APEC Tourism Ministers Meeting, Choi stressed the importance of personnel exchanges between the two countries. He proposed jointly designating 2027-2028 as the "Korea-China Tourism Year," using the APEC Summit to be held in Shenzhen, China, in November this year as an occasion.
Chinese Minister Sun Yeli agreed, saying, "Korea and China are absolutely important tourism markets for each other, and the key is to enable more frequent visits," responding that the two sides should pursue specific discussions going forward. He 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 event last year."
Choi then presided over individual bilateral talks in succession with Widiyanti Putri Wardhana, Indonesia's Minister of Tourism, Ram Thi Phuong Thanh, Vietnam's Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Murata Shigeki, Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, conducting close-knit diplomacy to attract tourists.
The weight of these four countries in the inbound tourism market is decisive. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, a total of 8.71 million foreign tourists visited Korea from January to May this year. Of these, China ranked first with 2.56 million (29.4%) and Japan second with 1.6 million (18.4%). Vietnam and Indonesia accounted for 250,000 (2.9%) and 180,000 (2.1%), respectively.
Meanwhile, at the APEC Tourism Ministers Meeting, Choi drew the attention of member countries by introducing innovative policies to transform the future fundamentals of Korean tourism — the "Tourism Plus-Tech Project," which discovers promising technology firms in the tourism industry, and the "AI-based Regional Tourism Leading Project," in which local governments, businesses and academia collaborate.
"This APEC Tourism Ministers Meeting was a venue for strategic diplomacy that practically 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 series of talks with major countries lead to the growth of inbound tourism as soon as possible," the ministry conveyed.
