Distinguished guests,

 

Thank you for comingto the 1st Global Busan Tourism Forum, hosted by the Busan Financial News

together with Busan Metropolitan City and Financial News. I would like toexpress my deepest gratitude

to Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo, who gave greatinterest and support to this forum, Busan Economic

Promotion Agency ChairmanCho Sung-jae, Dongseo University Chancellor Jang Jae-guk, and the

Tourism Sciences Society of Korea President Byeon Woo-hee, who will give a keynoteaddress. I would

like to extend my gratitude to Park Yong-sook, the Koreanrepresentative of UN Future Forum who joined

here with us here today to give aspecial lecture.

 

Tourism is one of thetypical service industries without chimney. The industry is known to createjobs

1.5 times more than manufacturing industries. Its future seems bright.ITB, the world's tourism organization

 forecasts that the tourism industry willincrease by 4% this year. This number exceeds the staggering

global economicgrowth rate. The growth rate is especially notable in Asian regions, includingChina.

 

The Korean governmentis endeavoring to promote the tourism industry. The government has recently

discussed, supervised by President Park, the competitiveness of the tourismindustry. One of the

discussions centered on the designating Busan as a sharedhomestay trial area. Busan must seize this

opportunity as we have the richesttourism resources nationwide. This is the reason behind for this forum

hostedby the Busan Financial News, which has been dedicated to boost the localeconomy, under the

title "a strategy to build a service infrastructure forTourism City, Busan".

 

Last week, thegovernment announced its plans to expand the current Gimhae Airport to theGimhae New

Airport. The new Gimhae Airport will be the foundation to transformBusan into the tourism Mecca of Korea.

On the other hand, Britain has exitedthe Europe Union in the so-called "Brexit". The aftereffects of Brexit

plummeted the value of the won; however, in the view of foreign touristattraction, the declined won's value

is not at all bad.  This is an opportunity for anyone with theforesight to take it.

 

Busan is equippedwith the sky and the sea and thus is second to none as the center of fortourism.

However, most foreign tourists visit Seoul or Jeju Island only. Tolure them to Busan, a wise strategic

development is critical at this point.With this in mind, I hope this forum can enable us to find solutions for

ourquestions.

 

Dear honored guests,

 

The Busan FinancialNews marks its fourth anniversary this coming December and I believe we wereable

to grow thanks to your interest and support.  This coming autumn, the 3rd Busan GlobalFinancial Forum is

set to be held. This is a suggestion that the future ofBusan depends on two sectors - tourism and finance.

 

The word"tourism" or "gwanggwang", not only refers to sightseeingbut it also conveys the meaning of

seeing the light of the country. It is myhumble hope that Busan becomes the very center of Korea's tourism,

representingthe light of our country. I wish health and happiness for all of you. Thank youvery much.

 

 

Busan Financial News/ Financial News

CEO and Chairman,

Jeon, Jae-ho