KORAIL (Korea Railroad Corporation) held a 'Workshop for Enhancing Railway Tourism and Inviting Foreign SNS Reporters' at Yongsan Station on July 24th. The event saw the participation of around 30 officials, including representatives from the Korea Tourism Organization, and foreign SNS reporters such as WOW Korea Supporters and Cantavi Supporters, to discuss strategies for improving railway services and promoting railway tourism to international visitors.
Attendees exchanged wide-ranging opinions on topics including travel patterns and information gathering methods of foreign tourists, awareness of railway tourism products, ticket purchasing processes, and station and train convenience.
Honey Min, a Myanmar-born foreign reporter, shared her experience, saying, “Thanks to dedicated foreigner-only staff at major stations and the smart tourism information system, traveling on Korea’s railways was very convenient. I highly recommend Korea Railways as a transportation option for foreign tourists.”
In the first half of 2023, approximately 2.79 million foreign visitors used Korea’s rail services, marking a 13% increase compared to the previous year. Most travelers visited Busan, Gyeongju, Dongdaegu, and Daejeon.
KORAIL plans to expand its multilingual support for the ‘KORAIL Talk’ mobile app from three languages to seven starting in October. Additionally, a ‘Travel Products’ menu will be added to its multilingual website in the first half of next year to improve booking accessibility for foreign tourists. New unique rail travel packages are also in development.
The supported languages will be expanded from English, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese to include Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Myanmar.
Lee Min-seong, Head of KORAIL Customer Marketing, remarked, “This workshop was a meaningful opportunity to recognize the potential of railway tourism through the actual experiences and perspectives of foreign tourists.”
