The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) hosted a delegation from the Korea Association of Travel Agents (KATA), a major South Korean tourism industry association, for a four-day fact-finding trip that ended yesterday, according to an MGTO statement.
KATA, according to the statement, has members from over 2,000 travel agencies and consultancies across South Korea. It was founded in 1991.
The statement noted that the delegation comprised 13 KATA members and guests, who, aside from visiting local attractions and the city’s integrated resorts, as well as sampling Macanese cuisine, also joined the 11th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) to connect with their counterparts from Macau and around the world after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The statement added that the delegation also learnt about the latest tourism industry trends and resources at the event for “worldwide industry delegates to navigate business opportunities”.
Meanwhile, the statement noted that direct flights between Macau and South Korea have been gradually restored since pandemic-related travel curbs were eased early this year, the statement said. MGTO is slated to unveil a mega roadshow in South Korea in mid-July to “tap the market potential with strenuous efforts” in addition to its previous endeavours.
“A variety of channels are leveraged to brand the destination and ignite [South] Koreans’ intent to travel to Macau”, according to the statement.
Macau logged over 740,000 visitor arrivals from South Korea in pre-pandemic 2019, ranking them as the largest foreign visitor market in the city at that time, the statement noted.
This undated handout photo provided yesterday shows the delegation from the Korea Association of Travel Agents (KATA) visiting the Macau Grand Prix Museum during their four-day facting-finding trip which ended yesterday.
