Why You “Definitely” Want to Visit Korea ?

Why You “Definitely” Want to Visit Korea? It’s quite a simple question, but a bit hard to answer. As for me, the matter is not ‘why I want to visit Korea’, because I have sworn myself that I have to visit Korea and these are some of my reasons:

1. Know Korea Better

It’is said seeing is believing. I’ve seen Korea  images in many dramas, movies, pictures and Korea’s travel stories. Those brings my imaginations about Korea, what Korea really looks like and how great it is to travel to Korea? So I have to visit Korea to find the answers so that I can feel myself the sensation of being in Korea. Besides that, by knowing Korea better I do hope I can learn many positive things from Korea, from its people, from its culture, and from its spirit to become one of the most influential country in the world specially from its Hallyu that spread worldwide.

In Indonesia, I saw some Korea art performance, I tasted some Korea food, I event tried on hanbok, but I think it will be different if I experience them all in its native country, South Korea.

  2. I love traveling

Traveling is my passion and my ambition. And among the countries I eager want to visit, Korea is my top priority though traveling to Korea is quite expensive for me, but It really challenge me to actualize my desire to see Korea. I was lucky that I have visited some countries for free ( by invitation or on duty ). And I wish I am lucky again this time by joining this event that I will be able to visit Korea for free. Really hope that I am the one of the lucky winner of this WOWKOREA event and become a part of  Global Wow Korea.

3. I LoveWriting and Photography

I always write my traveling experiences in my blog and my SNS (facebook and Instagram). Some of my travel writings were also published in local magazine and newspaper. For Korea visit, I have a special wish to make a ‘photography book’, trough the photo-book I want to show not only beautiful images of Korea but also to tell my deep feelings about Korea. Hope my wish will come true.

                   when i won Korea Photo Contest held by Korean Cultural Center Indonesia

                              One of my travel writing in local magazine about my visit to Hanoi

 4. Actively Use Social Media 

Like I said before I am using social media such as facebook, blog and instagram, and I am quite active using them. So I can share all about my journey, experiences, and my pictures during my visit to Korea in my social media in real time and daily basis, just like what members Wow Korea do as a social media influencer. 

You can visit my blog in bahasa The News Room 
 Or in English  My Korea Corner
    

5. Friends Support

Last but not least, I am really grateful to my friends who support me to bring my dream into reality.  Some of them encourage me to go and ask me to share my what I see and what I feel about Korea. This kind of support makes me more confident to decide that I must come and see Korea, no matter what. 

                                              "hope is a dream that never sleep" 

                                                 ------ the end ------

KTO invites Indonesians to enjoy Muslim-friendly Korea

The Korean tourism board is aggressively promoting its Muslim-friendly tourist opportunities. On Oct. 17, the CEO of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), Jung Chang-soo, visited Indonesia and held a special dinner with travel agents and local media outlets to promote a Muslim-friendly Korea.

On this occasion Jung explained why Korea is interested in developing Muslim-friendly tourism that targets the Southeast Asian market. 

"We are taking steps to diversify and expand our target market, after having focused on the mainland Chinese market.  Now, we're focusing on Indonesia, the biggest Muslim market in Southeast Asia, to boost the growth of the Korean tourism industry," Jung said.

Jung expressed his interest and enthusiasm by wearing batik attire that night. Batik is Indonesia's traditional cloth, with a singular and classic design.

Jung said that, as part of the Muslim-friendly Korea campaign, his organization will introduce Muslim-friendly restaurants in Korea this month, and will organize a halal restaurant week in November for Muslim tourists.

"We do it in the framework of developing friendly business relationships, so that Muslim tourists can feel more comfortable when visiting Korea," Jung said. 

It's quite reasonable that the Korean tourism promotion bureau pay special attention to Indonesia in promoting its Muslim-friendly tourism choices. The KTO database shows that about 220,000 Indonesian tourists travel to Korea each year. It puts Indonesia in ninth place, in terms of the number of the tourists who visit Korea.

The KTO in Jakarta estimates that the number will increase to 250,000 this year, putting Indonesia in eighth place. 

Furthermore, Jung sees Indonesia as becoming a potential marketplace for tourism in the next 10 years, and predicts that it will be in fourth place in terms of inbound tourists to Korea, side by side with mainland China, Japan and the U.S. The Indonesian tourism industry itself has grown by 53 percent through to September 2016, compared to the same period last year. This means that Indonesia is leading the expansion of the tourism industry in Southeast Asia, which is growing on average of around 35 percent per year. 

As a whole, there will be approximately 2.2 million tourists from Southeast Asian countries visiting Korea in 2016, or about 13 percent of Korea's inbound international tourists. 

The KTO in Jakarta said that it will go all out to promote tourism to Korea in Indonesia next year, and that it will cooperate with Korean companies operating in Indonesia to support their businesses in order to achieve the Korean government's goal of having 15 percent of its inbound tourists being from Southeast Asia next year. 

*this articel also published here

Who is The Most Famous Korean Actor in Indonesia?

By the time the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) in Jakarta announced the survey results about the most popular Korean movie star in Indonesia in 2016, I already knew that Song Joong-ki would be No. 1 on the list.

He became popular in Indonesia because of his soap opera "Descendants of the Sun." He gained even more popularity when the KTO chose him to be a tourism ambassador for Korea, and his video promoting tourism to Korea was aired on many local TV stations. The Indonesian public were extremely familiar with this prince charming actor.

The KTO in Jakarta conducted its survey using two methods, offline and online. The offline survey took place during the Korea Festival held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2016, at the Lotte Shopping Avenue in Jakarta.  As many as 1,000 respondents answered this offline survey. The online survey was run through the KTO in Jakarta's official social media profiles, and 1,735 respondents answered the survey.

Both surveys included seven Korean actors who had starred in many dramas, films and on TV variety shows, broadcasts often enjoyed by Indonesian audiences. The KTO in Jakarta added up the results of both the online and offline surveys to find out who was the most popular Korean actor in Indonesia in 2016, and the prize goes to Soong Joong Ki.  He also managed to beat out Lee Min Hoo, the actor who was selected as the most popular Korean actor in Indonesia in 2015’s survey.

According to this year's results, Lee Min Hoo had to settle for third place, after Kim Soo Hyun in second place. Park Bo Geum was in fourth place, and there we have the most popular Korean actors in Indonesia in 2016.

Stay tuned for next year's results. 

*this articel also published here