Jeju Special Self-Governing Province is targeting potential tourists in Korea and abroad with a promotional marketing campaign to establish the image of Jeju as the most desirable destination of the phased return to normal life (“With COVID”).

The global interest in Jeju is rising with the mention of Jeju in “Squid Game,” the most-watched miniseries on Netflix across 94 countries worldwide.

Jeju has also become a talking point in the overseas press, such as the U.S. current affairs magazine “Newsweek” introducing Jeju as “the Hawaii of Korea” that a character from “Squid Game” wished to visit.

With the aim to utilize this sudden popularity to boost tourism in Jeju, the Jeju government has collaborated with its Overseas Promotion Office to host events such as a vote to select the most desirable destination in Jeju and an online “dolhareubang honeycomb candy(dalgona)” event.

The Jeju government is seeking to utilize such synergic effects with popular aspects of Korean culture such as K-drama, K-pop and K-food in order to field a marketing campaign focusing on “Jeju’s place in the Korean Wave” to draw the attention of millennials and Gen Z youths around the world, who are leading tourism trends on a global scale today.

To this end, the Jeju government plans to hold an online marketing festival titled “Jeju Antre” this coming November to showcase Jeju-related content within the Korean Wave by inviting famous influencers from Korea and abroad.

As contact-free and eco-friendly travel trends have come into the spotlight due to COVID-19, there are many continuous efforts to discover and promote safe, sound and relaxing certified global wellness retreats. The Jeju government also nominated Hahyo Village to be included in the World Tourist Organization’s list of top tourist villages and hosted the Space Out Competition at the Seogwipo Forest of Healing, which was featured in The Washington Post.

Jeju plans to continue contributing to sustainable tourism and creating a renewable resource-based society by collaborating with stakeholders such as eco-friendly social enterprises to field a marketing campaign to promote responsible tourism. In the eco-friendly travel sector, Jeju is already conducting campaigns such as “Eco-RUN,” “Trash Collection Challenge,” “Eco-friendly Pledge Campaign, and the beach-cleaning project “JEN(Jeju Eco-friendly Network)”

Furthermore, it also expanded incentives for marketing activities by Jeju-based tourism companies in line with the infection control measures for the phased return to normal life. Jeju has been supporting the online promotion of vacation package products by tourism companies and small businesses that are specialized in the sharing economy, and it is now also preparing to provide immediate support for incentives to vitalize visits by tour groups and ferry passengers in line with each stage of the easing of infection control measures.

Through the Jeju Tourism Digital Studio that will be launched this year, the province will seek to strengthen its digital marketing capacity, reduce sales transaction fees and hold discount events for tenant companies in the Tamnao mall, and provide support for shared offices in the travel industry. It is also preparing for the resumption of the international travel market in line with measures such as the introduction of travel bubbles between COVID-safe countries depending on the recovery phase of each country, resumption of visa-free travel, and support to enhance access for direct flights, charter flights and cruise ships.

In anticipation of the opening of borders between countries, Jeju is also showcasing online virtual-reality tours of Jeju and holding “early bird” sales of Jeju tourism products, as well as planning to release a web series depicting tourist destinations on Jeju Island, which is rapidly becoming known as one of the world’s top clean tourist destinations, with the aim to appeal to millennials and Gen Z viewers as a key demographic of the Korean Wave. In addition, customized marketing in line with the characteristics of each country is concurrently taking place through Jeju tourism promotion offices in 11 overseas locations.

Director Kim Seung-bae of Jeju Tourism Office commented, “We are promoting a ‘complaint-free Jeju tourism’ policy to recover trust toward Jeju tourism and reboot the tourism sector,” further adding, “We hope to create a solid image of Jeju Island as a clean and safe global tourist destination in line with the phased recovery of normal life.”