More UK travellers heading to South Korea

The tourism organisation representing South Korea has revealed that the country has seen a big increase in the number of visitors from the UK in recent months.

In December 2008, the number of tourists visiting South Korea from the UK rose by 14 per cent compared to 12 months earlier, while the first two weeks of January saw a year-on-year increase of 22 per cent.

According to the Korea Tourism Organisation, marketing campaigns with partner airlines and tour operators helped fuel the increase.

The rising popularity of Seoul as a stopover destination for connecting flights to Japan, Australia and other countries is also thought to have contributed to the higher number of arrivals.

Michael Michael, marketing manager of the Korea Tourism Organisation, said: "Much of this increase is in stopover traffic so our strategy of positioning Seoul as a stopover destination not just for Australasia but also for cities in Asia, is showing benefits.

"Korea is also one of the few places in the world where the pound has retained its buying power against the local currency so this is a great time to visit and pick up some of those high-tech bargains that Korea is famous for."

Flights to Seoul are available from the UK with airlines including Air France, Finnair and Lufthansa.

Posted by Penny, 11 February 2009 13:07

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• Lufthansa
• Air France
• Finnair