South Korea welcomed 400 international employees of Hong Kong-based multinational retail company Canai in November for corporate events and travel, with an additional 2,600 staff members attending an event in the country next year. The arrivals follow a successful bid to host the global group’s overseas incentive trip by the Korea MICE Bureau (KMB) division of the Korea Tourism Organization.
A total of 1,400 Canai employees attended a special gathering at Seoul’s Grand Intercontinental Coex Hotel in Gangnam on November 29, with the overseas contingent hailing from Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Taiwan and other countries with Canai branches. As well as announcing new company products, the event also hosted an employee fashion show. In addition, participants got to enjoy a range of South Korean-themed cultural entertainment courtesy of the KMB, including a taekwondo demonstration, drum dance and other traditional South Korean performances.
With accommodation in both Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi province, employees also visited popular attractions in both locations, including Bukchon Hanok (traditional South Korean house) Village, the new Lotte World Tower complex, island resort Namiseom and the new Soyang Lake transparent “Sky Walk” in Chuncheon City, among others.
Next year’s Canai incentive event will be held in Busan, South Korea’s largest port city, a regular recipient of overseas incentive visitors, with past corporate visitors, including Amway and Infinitus. KMB marketing initiatives, to secure the event, included a Korea MICE Roadshow in Taipei this past July, held in conjunction with the Seoul Tourism Organization, as well as ongoing joint activities with the Busan Tourism Organization.
Official figures for the number of incentive travelers to South Korea in 2017 as of September (excluding Chinese corporate visitors) is estimated at 139,122, indicating an increase of 40.1 percent over that time last year.
According to KMB Executive Director Kap Soo-kim, the successful Canai bid reflects ongoing bureau efforts to boost South Korea’s inbound business-events market. “We plan on continuing to attract events from multinational companies with global networks in order to diversify the South Korean meetings and incentives market” he said.