ㆍ300 institutions and businesses from 40 countries participated
ㆍSustainable ecological and ethical tours attract attention 
ㆍ433 consultations conducted for 25 countries at "B2B Travel Mart" 
ㆍRising expectations for resumption of overseas group travel 

The SITF 2023 can be described as a "four-day travel with your family around the world". With as many as 500 kiosks that include 300 relevant institutions and enterprises from approximately 40 countries participating in the event, the SITF functions as a venue to indirectly experience a world traveling through exhibitions and conferences while gaining a chance to promote actual business activity.

The SITF is known as Korea's first comprehensive tourism expo. Marking its 38th anniversary, the event was held for four days alongside the UNWTO's World Tourism Industry Conference 2023 at COEX from May 4 to 7. With a focus on the sustainability of the tourism industry, featuring topics such as eco-tourism and ethical tourism at a time when the world is making its return to normalcy following the pandemic, the SITF 2023 garnered significant interest.

On May 5, the second day of the event, couple travel bloggers, Sang-ho Hwang and Se-rin Woo, who co-wrote (lit. Off-road Wilderness Hot Springs), took to the main stage. Point by point, they argued why we should embark on ecological traveling that ties in the theme of ethical travels with a focus on "ecology", instead of "ego", the essence of the authentic eco-travel experience. 

The "This Stop is Plastic" event was conducted separately from the lecture, also highlighting eco-friendliness. In fact, the first 50 visitors for each day of SITF that turned in three bottle caps to the Plastic Stop Kiosk even received eco-friendly goods on a first-come, first-served basis. The purpose of the goods was to encourage people to think about sustainable travel for the earth's future.

Exhibition kiosks brought back pre-pandemic atmosphere. 40 countries, including Guam, Spain, Malaysia and Greece, and more than 300 institutions and businesses in tourism sector, from local governments of Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, etc to hotels, tourism operators, airline companies took part. The participant companies publicized the latest tourism information and carried out marketing activity. Active B2B and B2C exchanges, in particular, were well received by participating kiosks and visitors. An official from the Secretariat commented, "the event brought us a step closer to the pre-pandemic level while also delivering substantial outcomes from business meetings".    

Exhibitions were categorized into domestic tourism pavilion, overseas tourism pavilion, tourism product market pavilion, tourism venture/ start-up pavilion and traditional culture pavilion. New kiosks designed in line of the endemic era, such as world food market zone, flea market zone (Gu-wol market), plastic-free SITF kiosk, etc. gripped visitors' attention. 

Among them, "tourism product market pavilion" is worth noting. It was filled with visitors planning for domestic and oversea unguided tours or incentive tours. The nation's tourism giants, such as Hana Tour and Norang Poongseon showcased different products at an affordable price to meet the changing demand in post-pandemic era. Whenever there was a promotional event or a special offer, a large crowd gathered out of nowhere.    

On the 5th and 6th, when "Tiny Ping Sing-along Show" and "Tiny Ping Photo Time", which were popular to the extent that the organizer was bombarded with inquires before the opening of SITF were held, countless families with children visited. They had fun with Tiny Ping and it was an opportunity to discover hidden charms of the event. Tiny Ping is combination of the word tiny and pixie, and is an animation about tiny pixies living in a magical world where human minds are inter-connected. Each Tiny Ping Youtube clip was viewed by up to 20 million times, proving that it is loved across the globe.      

A variety of events and performances performed on the main stage during the SITF, overwhelmed visitors. The Gosu Gara-sa-dae (tips from travel experts), was also loved by visitors passing on special tips from travel program creators and travel experts. 

Traditional performances of each country and Hanbok Fashion Show, a rare event organized by Korea Hanbok Promotion Institute and showcased traditional outfits from different parts of the world resulted in a round of applause from many visitors. Star writer concert, which was the re-enaction of Seoul International Art Fair 2023 for tourism expo, held meetings with the writers at the expo pavilion and main stage. Many visitors commented that they found it special in that art and culture was combined together.    

Apart from the above, SITF 2023 parade, a prize wheel with 100% winning rate which comes with prizes from travel package, airline tickets, accommodations, coffee coupons, first-comes first-served gift giving event, stamp tours also attracted crowds of visitors, making the event all the more fun and interesting.  

In particular, online/offline "B2B travel mart", carried out as one-on-one matching was participated by a total of 25 countries and regions and executed 433 consultings. A Secretariat official commented "that the number of consultations many national and regional officials received reached millions indicate the revival of the domestic and international tourism industry in the endemic".   

Jeong-ah Yeon, CEO of KOTFA, organizer and host of SIFT 2023, said, "the event was coincided with the resumption of international group travels and at a time when there is increasing expectation in the industry, which resulted in active participation from home and abroad and served as an opportunity to return to pre-pandemic level. I'm glad that a lot of effort put into introducing new programs and promotional events to meet participants' expectations paid off and received well." She then added, "we will continue to attract participants and visitors' attention by making various attempts to stimulate the growth of the industry next year, and strive to turn the Expo into a driver of the tourism industry at home and abroad."   

SITF will continue into next year. The 39th SITF 2024 will be held from May 9th to 12th of 2024 at COEX A Hall. World Tourism Industry Conference will be held as well. The third World Tourism Industry Conference is scheduled to be held for three days, from May 9th through 11th in Seoul and North Jeolla province. 

SITF 2023 is a large-scale annual EXPO for the tourism industry organized by Seoul International Tourism Fair and International Tourism Forum and the host is KOTFA. It is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Seoul Metropolitan City, Korea Tourism Organization, Korea Tourism Association and The Tourism Sciences Society of Korea while UNWTO and PATA are taking part as partners.    

Article by reporter Choi Seong-wook