Writer. Sung Ji Yeon
Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In-chon visited Shanghai, China, from Nov. 21 to 23 at the invitation of the Chinese government to attend the China International Travel Mart (CITM). There, he met with the culture and tourism ministers of China, Thailand and Malaysia to discuss expanded cultural exchanges between their nations.
The CITM, hosted by China¡¯s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, began in 1998 and is Asia¡¯s largest international tourism fair. In the latest fair, the Korea pavilion―led by the Korea Tourism Organization―hosted 30 booths and 53 tourism-related businesses. The pavilion displayed Korean tourism products aimed at individual travelers, including ones focused on fashion, wellness, beauty and regional content. Yu held bilateral meetings with Thai Minister of Tourism and Sports Sorawong Thienthong and Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Tiong King Sing, where the leaders discussed ways to expand people-to-people exchange, including measures to enhance visitor convenience and promote youth exchanges.
Thailand¡¯s tourism minister introduced his nation¡¯s policy of refunding parts of the production costs of films or TV programs shot in Thailand. The two ministers also shared examples of improving the visitor experience and vibrant cultural and sports exchanges between their countries.
In the bilateral talks between Minister Yu and his Malaysian counterpart, the two ministers discussed ideas for various cultural and tourism exchanges to mark the 65th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and Malaysia next year. Minister Yu invited Minister Tiong to the first APEC high-level dialogue on culture to be held next year in Gyeongju, Korea. Minister Tiong invited Minister Yu to Johor, Malaysia, which will host the ASEAN+3 Tourism Ministers¡¯ Meeting in January. Beyond bilateral tourism cooperation, Yu also called for expanding youth and artistic exchanges.
The talks between Korea and China took place amid a new era in people-to-people exchange between the two countries, owing to China¡¯s recent announcement of its visa-free policy for Korean visitors. The two ministers expressed hope that tourism flows will soon recover to its pandemic levels.
During the meeting, Chinese Culture Minister Sun Yeli expressed a desire to learn from Korea¡¯s success in becoming a cultural powerhouse. He also proposed regular bilateral talks between the two nations¡¯ culture ministers and government officials, as well as deepening exchanges between Korean and Chinese cultural institutions and arts groups and business-to-business exchanges.
In response, Minister Yu pointed to the vibrant investment and cooperation between Korea and China in the game, film and entertainment sectors, saying the two countries could aim for global markets if they work together through joint ventures and the like. He also said active screenings of Korean films or performances in China could help activate regional economies. The two ministers agreed to hold regular high-level and working-level talks on culture and tourism to boost bilateral exchanges in culture, arts, content and tourism, and to discuss specific cooperative plans in each sector.
