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South Korea holds virtual festival for Muslim travelers
Muslim Friendly Korea Festival 2020 promotes Muslim-friendly tourism in South Korea and equips Muslim tourists with helpful information for their future visits to the country once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
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Seoul Botanic Park in Seoul, South Korea. (Shutterstock/aaron choi)
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) Jakarta is holding a three-day virtual travel event over the weekend.
Dubbed Muslim Friendly Korea Festival 2020, the event aims to promote Muslim-friendly tourism in South Korea and equip Muslim tourists with information that can be applied when they visit the country once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
The festival consists of six events that feature various topics and guests, namely Explore with Love and Let’s Fall in Love on Friday; Eat with Love and Cooking with Love on Saturday; and Capture with Love and Goes to Korea with Love on Sunday. Two events will be held each day via video conference platform Zoom from 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. People can also visit KTO’s Instagram account at 2 p.m. daily to participate in quizzes.
In Eat with Love, people will be taken virtually to Muslim-friendly restaurants in Korea with content creator Michimomo, while those who want to cook halal meals at home can join the Cooking with Love session with home cook Putri Habibie. In Capture with Love, people can learn about photography with professional photographer Christina Tan.
In Capture with Love, MICE manager of KTO Jakarta Akhmed Faezal Alhamdi said, “Those who like photography will get tips to find good angles. Korea is a haven for photographers, what with numerous breathtaking landscapes, but if you don’t quite get how to capture them, the results can be ordinary,” Akhmed said during the opening ceremony on Friday.
The public’s initial response to Muslim Friendly Korea Festival 2020 was positive, resulting in registration closing early due to the fully booked schedule. “The number of participants who registered reached more than 500 people per day – starting on the first day,” said Akhmed.
Based on the latest information, Akhmed stated that the South Korean government had lowered its social-distancing measures to level 1 and reminded people to keep implementing tight health protocols. “In regard to tourist destinations, several have reopened to domestic [travelers],” said Akhmed.
Muslim-friendly tourism has grown annually, as shown with the improvement of facilities for Muslim travelers in Korea. The East Asian nation has seen an increase in places of worship in shopping areas, restaurants, hotels, airports and other tourist destinations.
Byun Jung Sup, director of KTO Jakarta, said that the Muslim Friendly Korea Festival was the main theme of Korea Travel Fair, an annual event that last took place in September of 2019.
“The purpose of holding this year’s festival is to convey the message that Korea remains committed to the development of its Muslim-friendly tourism and that Korea is always waiting for Indonesian Muslim tourists to come back, of course after this [situation] gets better,” Byun said. (wng)
