Korea Eyeing Indonesian Muslim Tourists

Jakarta ( Berita ) :  Vice President of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) Hong Ju Min said that this year the organization is improving and increasing the number of tourism objects and destinations in Korea to lure Muslim tourists.

“We hope more Indonesian Muslim tourists would visit Korea, as not only more special facilities had been and will be built for Muslim tourists, KTO also established cooperation with tourist organizations in Indonesia,”  Hon told a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He said Korea has now 10 mosques and 50 smaller praying facilities for Muslims in Indonesia called ‘mushollas’, provides handbooks containing a list of foods which Muslims are allowed to consume, information on hotels and tourist resorts.  KTO also has a cooperation with the Korean Muslims Federation in providing picnic lunch in association with tourist agents.

“Indonesian Muslim tourists visiting Korea account roughly for 20 percent of the total number of foreign tourists coming to our country, and we believed that with improved facilities for Muslims, the number of Muslim tourists coming to Korea will increase further,” he said.

The number of foreign tourists coming to Korea in 2007 reached 67,000,and this year their number had been projected at 72,000. Most of the tourists visiting Korea from Southeast Asis were from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.

“Our statistics showed that in 2007 the number of Indonesian tourists coming to Korea increased by 7.3 percent,” he added. In the meantime, Korean ulema Waesoho Rungsit who was also present at the press conference said that in the 1980s in his country it was rather difficult to find ‘halal’ (allowed for Muslims) food for Muslims.

“But starting in the 1990s, when Korea began accepting migrant workers from Pakistan, Indonsia, Thailand, and the Philippines, many restaurants and foodstalls started serving halal food,” he said.

KTO came to Jakarta not only for tourist promotion, but also for signing memoranda of understanding (MoU) with Korean Air, a consortium of tourist companies, Garuda Indonesia, and a number of other companies, on the promotion of tourist objects and destinations in Korea, and for other sorts of cooperation.  ( ant )