Hotel Shilla CEO seeks to attract Chinese tourists

The CEO of South Korea’s Hotel Shilla Lee Boo-jin, held a travel fair in Shanghai on Wednesday to attract Chinese tourists ahead of China’s National Day holiday.

The growing popularity of Korean pop culture and beauty products were part of the sales pitch at the travel fair, which drew about 600 Chinese tourism executives and bloggers, Hotel Shilla officials said.

Popular Korean boy band SHINee performed at the fair.

South Korea‘s tourism industry has been reeling from the aftermath of the MERS outbreak in May, with many foreign tourists having canceled their trips to South Korea.

“As the MERS situation is being subsidized, the Korean tourism market is expected to get back on track in September,” Lee told reporters on the sidelines of the fair.

Earlier in the day, Lee and Liang Jianzhang, CEO of a Chinese online travel agency Ctrip, signed a memorandum of understanding to forge cooperation in the field of tourism.

Hotel Shilla and Ctrip agreed to jointly develop tour packages for Chinese customers, Lee said.

Currently, there is only one MERS patient still remaining in an intensive care unit in South Korea.

China’s week-long National Day holiday starts on Oct. 1. (Yonhap)