By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
A veteran travel journalist won an award for his role in promoting Korean tourism. The award recipient, So Jae-pil, said that while Korea has become a major tourism destination, the country's travel publishing industry is still in its infancy. He urged the government to help develop more travel journalists and writers to promote Korean tourism.
So, a pioneer in travel journalism in Korea and the publisher of ``Travel Press," received the ``Best Korean Journalist for Seoul Tourism" award from the Seoul municipal government last week.
He said the Korean media industry should put more efforts into fostering travel writers and journalists. ``Right now in Korea, even at major daily newspapers, they don't have writers who specialize in travel journalism.
Reporters who cover tourism routinely get reassigned to other areas," So said. ``I hope the government will take the initiative to help develop more travel journalists to promote Korean tourism overseas." South Korea receives more than six million foreign tourists every year, he said.
So first got into travel journalism in 1966, when he founded ``This Month in Korea," an English-language magazine that covered Korean travel. In 1980, he started a monthly English-language publication, ``Travel Press," highlighting Korean tourism.
He was one of the 19 recipients who received awards from the city government last Friday at the inaugural Seoul Tourism Awards ceremony, held at Shilla Hotel. Some of the biggest film and television stars in Asia also picked up awards at the ceremony.
Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan received the ``Best Foreign Star Promoting Seoul Tourism" award. Jang Nara, a popular Korean television actress with a large fan base in China, won the ``Best Korean Star Promoting Seoul Tourism" award.
Other winners included Song Seung-hwan, chief executive officer of Seoul-based musical production company PMC Production. His company is the producer of ``Nanta," a Korean musical comedy that combines cooking and high-energy percussion. The show has attracted more than a million to performances worldwide.
The Seoul municipal government organized the award with the aim of developing the tourism industry in the Asia-Pacific region and further boosting the tourism industry.