The Diplomat
Spain will organize a week of cultural activities in the Republic of Korea in the second half of 2023, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Fernando Valdés, announced during a visit to Seoul last week.
The celebration of a Spain Week in Korea reflects the growing ties between the two countries, and in fact last July saw K-Week in Madrid, a week full of activities related to South Korean culture, gastronomy and traditions.
Valdes chaired, together with the Korean Vice-Minister of Culture, Sports and Culture, Cho Yongman, the first meeting of the Working Committee in charge of following up on the memorandum of understanding on tourism signed by the two countries.
At the meeting, both sides identified gastronomy, historical heritage and smart tourism as future areas of tourism cooperation. Specifically, Cho Yongman confirmed that the Republic of Korea will participate in the next edition of FITUR.
For his part, Fernando Valdés said: “Tourism and culture are among the areas of bilateral cooperation between Spain and the Republic of Korea that have evolved the most in recent years and are a priority for us. The celebration of Spain Week in Korea will therefore provide us with an excellent opportunity to bring our culture and gastronomy closer to Korean society, thereby also encouraging travel to Spain from Korea”.
The Republic of Korea is an emerging tourist market for Spain, which in just six years has gone from sending around 100,000 travellers to more than 630,000 in 2019.
So much so that, during Valdés’ visit to Korea, Turespaña, an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism in charge of promoting Spain as a destination abroad, sealed an alliance with Korean Air, the Korean flag carrier, to jointly promote Spain’s tourist destinations, products and experiences in Korea.
The agreement was signed by the director general of Turespaña, Miguel Sanz, and the company’s vice-president, Yohan Park, and is committed to “developing joint and coordinated promotional activities that will lead to an improvement in tourism flows to Spain”.
The Secretary of State, for his part, said: “This agreement lays the foundations for joint promotional activities that will undoubtedly contribute to the recovery of direct connectivity between Spain and Korea prior to the pandemic. Now that direct flights between Seoul and Barcelona have begun to resume, it is the Spanish government’s wish that the direct Seoul-Madrid route should also be resumed as soon as possible, and I have conveyed this to the company’s vice-president. In our meeting, we noted that the interest in resuming pre-pandemic connectivity is mutual”.
The meeting with the Korean Air representative was attended, in addition to Fernando Valdés and Miguel Sanz, by the Spanish Ambassador to Korea, Guillermo Kirkpatrick, and the Councillor for Tourism in Korea and Japan, Jaime Alejandre.
