Friday, April 18, 2014

S.Korea and Tourism Issues,


Since I am studying tourism, news affecting the tourism industry and the country's image is something we have to read about and be aware of. Speaking to a friend from Egypt, he mentions that there is a big issue harming the tourism industry approximately every sixth year in Egypt. When they have recovered from the disaster, there is a new one coming up. 

South Korea has been mentioned in the news a lot the past six months. Every year in autumn and spring, the whole world can read about the yellow dust traveling from the area of China and Mongolia over to South Korea and Japan. This is an issue affecting the tourism image of Korea, and can make a tourist change their mind about their holiday destination. 

Another issue which took place this year in February, where 10 people were killed and 100 students were injured when a rooftop collapsed. Apparently because of heavy snow, the roof of an auditorium filled with 560 people caved in. How is this affecting tourism? Korea has approximately 100,000 international students from 171 different countries. I can imagine that this number is increasing since the korean wave is taking the world by storm. Unfortunately, these kind of news can have an impact on students thinking about universities and countries where to do their masters or study in general. 

Lately, there has been a lot of discussions about the latest issue. A ferry heading to Jeju Island decided to departure regardless of the bad weather conditions. The ferry was late and the captain decided to take a little shortcut that didn't make the trip faster at all. Nine has been reported dead, and there is still a lot of people missing. To read more about this, follow the two links below. 

These events have occurred during my time in South Korea. When these news have reached Finland, I have received messages from friends and relatives asking me if I'm still alive or asked me if any of my friend is in danger. Luckily, nothing has harmed me, except for the yellow dust which gave me a terrible cough last year, but that's about it. I hear about the ship sinking issue every day and there is always new updates. As it seems like, there are so many people still missing, and the boat is already under the surface, I doubt that there are many survivors. I hope, that's not the case. Tragedies like this doesn't occur often, the same goes with plane crashes etc. I pray for all of them, I can barely understand that this is happening so close to where I am at the moment. 

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