Distinguished guests,

 

       I sincerely welcome you to the 3rd Global Busan Tourism Forum, hosted by Busan Financial News in     

       cooperation with Busan Metropolitan City, and Financial News. I would like to express our sincere

       gratitude to all attendees with an interest in Busan Metropolitan City for their support of this event, and 

       to Shim, Jeong Bo, President, Busan Tourism Organization, Huh, Yong Do, Chairman, Busan Chamber 

       of Commerce & Industry. It is my honor to give special thanks to Kim, Nam Jo, President, The Tourism  

       Science Society of Korea, for his keynote and Brendan T. Chen (Professor, National Chin-Yi University 

       of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan) and Malcolm Cooper (Emeritus Professor, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific 

       University Beppu, Japan) whom travelled from abroad for this presentation.  

 

       In this time of rising expectations of 'Spring on the Korean Peninsula', with the recent Inter-Korean  

       summit and the upcoming North Korea-United States summit, the '3rd Global Busan Tourism Forum' 

       has become even more meaningful. Thanks to suspension of the Chinese government's ban on 

       traveling to Korea, Chinese travelers (or youkes) have begun to visit Korea again and news of 

       Chinese cruise ships entering the port of Busan has been heard.

       In this year's forum, we set forth a primary theme of Tourism City Busan - Open a New Path; and a 

       secondary theme is to attract Japanese tourists, initiating the one-day shuttle tourism era as well as 

       expansion of tourism exchange between Busan - Taiwan and Southeast Asia tourism.

 

       Busan Financial News, launched as a First-class Financial Newspaper that leads the regional  

       economy in the global era, marks its sixth anniversary this year. I am confident that the opinions of 

       experts from home and abroad presented in this forum will guide Busan on its path to becoming a 

       global tourism city. Busan Financial News is committed to leading the regional economy by 

       discovering better opportunities for Busan, and we wish every one of you the best of health and 

       good luck.

 

       Thank you. 

 

       Kim, Joo Hyun,

       PRESIDENT & CEO,

       The Financial News