Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Chae Hwi-young (left) and Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism Sun Yeli on June 27 shake hands after the plenary session of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Tourism Ministerial Meeting at Macao Complex in Macao. (Heo Man-jin, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

By Charles Audouin

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has proposed jointly designating 2027-28 as "Korea-China Tourism Year" to mark the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum slated for November in the southeastern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The ministry on June 27 said Minister Chae Hwi-young made this proposal in talks with his Chinese counterpart Sun Yeli on the sidelines of the APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting in Macao.

Minister Chae emphasized the importance of expanding bilateral exchanges of people.

Minister Sun said in response, "Korea and China are highly important tourism markets for each other, so the key is to allow our people to travel back and forth more frequently," urging continued detailed discussions on the proposal.

"Korea's successful hosting of last year's APEC forum will be of great help in preparing for this year's event in China," the Chinese official said, emphasizing close cooperation.

Minister Chae also held a series of bilateral meetings with officials from Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam on practical cooperation to stimulate tourism exchanges including joint marketing of travel products, easing of visa regulations and improvement of immigration convenience.

At the ministerial meeting, he explained Korea's innovation policies to find promising technology companies in tourism, as well as pioneering regional tourism project based on artificial intelligence among local governments, businesses and academic institutions.

caudouin@korea.kr