What common points do the actor Bae Yong-jun, the figure skater Kim Yu-na, and the comic character Pororo have? The answer is they are all honorary ambassadors of the 2010-2012 Visit Korea Years. The 2010-2012 Visit Korea Committee chose 2010 to 2012 to introduce Korea as a tourist country. There will be various events and campaigns for the Visit Korea Years.

● Purposes
The aims of the Visit Korea Years are to introduce the attractions of Korea to foreigners and attract foreigner tourists. Other aims include raising the number of foreign tourists visiting Korea from 7.8 million to 10 million by 2012 and making Korea a top 20 tour country.

● Events
There are international events such as the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) World Championships Daegu 2011 and the International Exposition Yeosu Korea 2012 during the Visit Korea Years. Among them, the G0azette would like to introduce the 2011 IAAF World Championships Daegu.

2011 IAAF World Championships Daegu


The world championships will be held from August 27 to September 4 at Daegu Stadium in Suseong district. It is expected that around 3,500 athletes and officials and around 3,500 reporters from 213 countries will attend the championships. There are 47 events including 24 events for men and 23 events for women.
In addition, Synn Il-hi, the president of Keimyung University, was appointed the athletes’ village mayor, and he will manage the overall operations of the athletes’ village.
The mascot of the 2011 Daegu World Championships is Sarbi, whose model is the sapsal dog, which is loyal to its master and a smart Korean dog.

● Special Events

7th Busan International Fireworks Festival
This festival is an annual event. It will be held from October 21 to 22 and 28 to 29 at Gwangalli Beach in Busan. A fashion festival and a music concert will be held with the fireworks display.

Jeonju Korea Food Festival
The festival will introduce Korean foods such as bibimbap, kimchi, and galbi for the globalization of Korean food. It will have various experience programs such as eating Korean food and making rice cakes or red pepper paste. It will be held from October 20 to 24 in Jeonju.

Jeju Olle Walking Festival
Olle means roads for hikers. If you participate in the festival, you will walk one olle course per day, and be able to experience cultural events such as a traditional market tour and also a tea ceremony. The festival will be held from November 6 and continue for 5 days.

● Student Volunteers
The student volunteers are promotion teams organized for a hospitality campaign to welcome foreign tourists with a warm smile and make them want to visit again. The volunteer teams are recruited about twice a year and when a team completes their work, other teams are recruited. The third team completed their work and now the fourth team is doing their work until late August.

● Hospitality Campaign
Hospitality is welcoming guests or people who are visiting. This is similar to jeong, which is a kind of affection-like traditional Korean emotion. The Visit Korea Committee has started a hospitality campaign as a first step to have foreigners visit Korea again and also feel welcome.
The basic principles of hospitality are smiling and consideration. During the Visit Korea Years, the Visit Korea Committee is going to promote communication with foreigners and hospitality in 2011 and consideration and kindness in 2012.
The hospitality campaign is conducted by student volunteers from universities around Korea. They give a good impression to foreigners by doing a variety of events. For example, they visit festivals, like the cherry blossom festival in Jinhae, and promote Korea through games and street promotion events. Through their activities, they help foreigners and show their kindness. On-line, student volunteers promote many events through an official blog (http://blog.naver.com/miso_201012). Anyone can participate in picture, poster, and animation contests.

● Special Incentives

One More Night Promotion
During the 2010-2012 Visit Korea Years, the Visit Korea Committee is providing a special promotion. They are offering an incentive stay. If independent tourists stay 3 or 4 days, they get 1 day more for free. Most of the accommodations are hotels and there are a few resorts. Accommodations which provide incentive stays can be found on the Visit Korea Committee Web site (http://www.visitkoreayear.com).

Free Shuttle Bus for Foreigners
From January to December 2011, any foreign national can use Seoul-Gyeongju, Seoul-Jeonju, and Seoul-Busan round-trip shuttle buses for free. Tourists can apply on the Visit Korea Committee Web site.

If we act like the student volunteers, we can complete the Visit Korea Year successfully.