Travel Bits

Musical festival to celebrate 70th Liberation Day

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will hold a musical festival in Seoul to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the country’s liberation from Japan’s imperial rule.
The festival, to held Aug. 14 from 7:30-9 p.m. at Seoul Plaza, will stage musical performances from Korean stars including Lee Seung-cheol, Sistar and Insooni.
Renowned art director Yoon Ki-churl will direct the live cultural festival, themed “Grand Journey and New Takeoff.”
Yoon said he developed the stage using the artistic concept of light to enable people to remember the past, learn about the country’s history and look ahead to the future.
The three-part festival was developed through a contest for members of the public to submit their ideas for the musical event.

KTO promotes medical tourism to Japan, China

The Korea Tourism Organization will hold events for Chinese and Japanese people to experience Korea’s medical tourism industry.
The program, which will run until the end of this month, will invite some 40 Chinese and Japanese nationals to receive physical checkups at general hospitals and oriental medicine clinics.
This comes as the country seeks to revive inbound tourism from China and Japan following the outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome.
The KTO has increased efforts to promote medical tourism programs via social media such as Facebook and Weibo blogs.
It will also showcase its medical tourism content on www.medicalkorea.com.

Everland launches new water ride

Everland has launched a new water ride called Thunder Falls combining the thrills of a conventional flume ride and rafting.
Korea’s biggest theme park has invested about 14 billion won ($12 million) to build the ride over the last nine months, making it the country’s biggest water flume ride attraction.
Built on a 6,600-square-meter area, the ride drops boats from its peak of 20 meters at a 45-degree angle, which is steeper than the conventional 35-degree angle.
Also, the boat will take its riders through a 485-meter waterway, and the ride takes around 6 minutes and 20 seconds. The boats can seat four or eight people.