Korean Tourism Board - Why it is not working.

Koreans have been trying like stink to get people to visit Korea as tourists, and steal tourists away from places such as Tokyo, Beijing or Taipei. On paper Korea has a lot to offer. While there is no equivalent on a Great Wall of China in Korea there is a lot to see and do and I'm sure many people would add it to an Asian trip if they knew anything about it. The problem is that the Korean Tourist Board continues to make ads like this one, which has even played on CNN. Now some people have already called this racist stereotyping, and while I understand their viewpoint I don't agree. The Korean Tourism Board's job is to attract people to Korea, they are not going to be racist in their advertising. It's just a really bad ad.

Compare the Korean ad with what I think are two great campaigns. First is the Malaysia Truly Asia campaign and the second is the Live it Love it Hong Kong campaign of a few years ago. Both really did a great job of showing off their respective destinations and both tried to appeal to people from around the world. The idea of several groups of tourists representing travel demographics (young couples, small group of friends, retired couple etc.) having fun in that country makes you want to do it too. I mean, in the Malaysian one I can eat great food, see beautiful natural wonders, explore a jungle and go shopping. It makes Malaysia look appealing.

The Korea ad, in comparison, shows nothing of Korea at all. It's just a bunch of people walking around in their countries respective traditional clothing asking random questions to a guy playing on him Samsung smart phone. The message, come to Korea and see a young Asian guy with his head buried in a computer..... although really you can see that anywhere that has an Asian population. In fact, when I see that Japanese girl in her Kimono all I think is, I want to go to Japan. At no point is there a shot of Jeju-do, or a temple, or a great shot of a night out in Seoul or Busan.

This is how the ad goes:

The first shot is a cowboy asking about bibimbap, now 95% of viewers will have no idea what that is. In fact, it's just rice, vegetables and spicy chilli sauce. It's the Grilled Cheese sandwich of Korea. It's good for sure, but when you consider that the Hong Kong and Malaysian tourists are eating full spreads a bowl of rice seems less appealing. Also, we never see the dish or have it explained to us. Just saying that we COULD have seen a full Jon shik served by two smiling ladies in Hanbok's to normal looking tourists, just saying. Second is Napoleon's Imperial guard asking about the 2018 Olympics. SOOO Korea will host the Olympics in seven years... what you're saying is we should go to Korea then? Scene three has the Sultan of Dubai asking same said Korean guy about Korea's exports. Who the hell visits a country based on it's industrial capacity? Now as a business investor this may interest you, but given that the rest of the ad is targeted at tourists it seems out of place. Next is the very cute Japanese girl asking about a song (never mentions that it is supposed to be a Korean song). After seeing her I really want to visit Japan. Even if it were a guy in a samurai costume, it would still sell Japan to a potential tourist coming to Asia much more than the guy with the smartphone does. Next is Chinese girl asking about Korean TV drama. Again, who visits a country because it makes good TV shows? Also, as with the Japanese girl, she seems far more interesting to a prospective traveller to Asia than the Korean guy does and will sell Beijing to many people.

It finished with a happy looking Korean guy and his new model Samsung smart phone available at local retailers now.


Now a GOOD Korean add would have had 6-8 normal looking foreigners doing stuff like:

-shopping in Seoul
-seeing castles and Insadong in Seoul
-visiting a temple like Haeinsa
-hiking on Jeju-do
-relaxing on a beach in Jeju-do or Namhae
-shopping at the markets near Nampodong in Busan
-sipping green tea at the Boseong tea fields in spring
-in the National Parks in Gangwondo
-seeing historical sights in Gyeongju or Andong
-walking around Suwon fortress
-eating a full spread of Korean food at a nice restaurant


The fact is that if THAT ad is what they are using to attract westerners to Korea, then the Japanese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Chinese tourist boards all have an easier time.