Enjoy your stay in Korea with Halal Restaurant Week 2018

- Korea will have a promotional event of 'Halal Restaurant Week Korea' organized by KTO to provide discounts from Muslim-friendly restaurants and major tourist attractions.

- 'Halal Food Festival' to introduce Korea's Muslim-friendly infrastructure will also be held during the promotion period.

SEOUL,South Korea,July 30,2018 -- Korea Tourism Organization (the President,Ahn Young-bae,hereinafter KTO) will host the promotional event of Halal Restaurant Week from August 16 to October 14,for 60 days,in order to attract more Muslim visitors to Korea,who are the emerging market for Korean inbound tourism industry.

This will be the third year of the annual Halal Restaurant Week Korea promotional event since its first launch in 2016. The event was designed to give price discounts and other various benefits to foreign tourists including Muslims when they visit Muslim-friendly restaurants designated by KTO,major tourist attractions,and experience programs.

Halal Restaurant Week Korea is not only an ordinary discount promotion for foreign visitors,but also an intensive public relations period on Korea's Muslim-friendly infrastructure. As a matter of fact,most Muslims visiting Korea have had difficulties due to the lack of the reliable restaurants which serve halal dishes or the food which they can enjoy with no worries. Therefore,KTO is trying to build up Korea's reputation as one of the Muslim-friendly destination by providing foreign visitors with information and various benefits from the trustworthy restaurants.

This year a total of 147 partners(123 Muslim-friendly restaurants,24 major tourist attractions and experience programs),27 partners increased comparing to last year,will join this promotional event. Therefore foreign visitors including muslims will be able to take the chance of getting price discounts and other benefits during the event period.

KTO will distribute Halal Restaurant Week Korea coupon books through their major overseas branches located in Singapore,Kuala Lumpur,Jakarta,Bangkok,New Delhi,Dubai,Istanbul and Almaty. The coupon book includes 3,000KRW and 10,000KRW discount coupons that can be used at the designated Muslim-friendly restaurants,other tourist attractions and activities. This year,especially more than 30 Muslim-friendly restaurants will serve special pre-fixed menus that visitors can use the 10,000KRW coupon to get the price discount. The discount coupons can be easily downloaded at the official webpage. (www.hrwkorea.or.kr / desktop and mobile both available)

In addition,KTO will also host the 2018 Halal Food Festival,the kick-off event of the Halal Restaurant Week Korea,at Hall A in COEX in Gangnam-gu District,Seoul for three days from August 16 to 18. During the event,Muslim chefs' special cooking demonstrations and the cooking classes to learn how to make Korean-halal fusion food will take place as the main events. During the same period,the Halal Trade Expo Korea,a halal industry trade exhibition,will be simultaneously hosted and a number of programs such as the business meeting for halal industry and cultural events will be prepared as well. Those who want to join the festival event can sign up for free-admission in advance through the official webpage.

Cooking Class Pre-registration: https://hff2018eng.modoo.at/

Halal Trade Industry Expo: www.halalkoreaexpo.co.kr

KTO is unfolding various marketing activities to expand and diversify Korean inbound tourism market,paying attention to the strategic values of Muslim tourist market. According to the 2018 Global Muslim Travel Index,the estimated 1.8 billion Muslims around the world will record around 300 billion USD in travel expenses by 2026,emphasizing their strategic values especially for inbound tourism market of each country. Indeed,the number of Muslim visitors to Korea has been steadily growing up to around 990,000 in 2016,nearly 1 million. Their market share in Korean inbound tourism has grown steadily up to 6.5%.

KTO is also trying to expand the infrastructure to attract more Muslims visitors such as the designated Muslim-friendly restaurants and the prayer rooms which are mostly installed at popular tourist attractions,transportation facilities and accomodations nationwide. To enhance the satisfaction of Muslim tourists' experience in Korea,they keep developing various specialized tour programs based on Korean culture and high-value-added contents such as K-Drama,K-Pop and medical tourism. Through these efforts,KTO is committed to realizing its mid- and long-term goal of attracting more than 1 million Muslim visitors per year by enhancing awareness of Korea as one of the Muslim-friendly destinations in the world.

Tour Information for Muslims on Korea Tourism Organization Webpage: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_ENG_muslim.jsp

Official Webpage for Halal Restaurant Week Korea: www.hrwkorea.or.kr (Event introduction,How to download the mobile coupon and information on the affiliated partners are posted.)