Seated from left: Connie Chong, Jihee Kim and Winston Liaw at the signing of memorandum of understanding, witnessed by Jane Han (standing left) and Agatha Brendon Lee (standing right).
KOTA KINABALU: More Sabahans will choose Gwangju as their next holiday destination after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote the sixth largest South Korean city yesterday.
The MoU was signed by Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (SATTA) president Datuk Seri Winston Liaw, Gwangju Convention & Visitor Bureau general manager/brand strategy Jihee Kim and Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association Sabah Chapter secretary general Connie Chong at the Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort here.
Under the MoU, the three parties will jointly develop, manage and market Gwangju as a tourist destination to the people in Sabah.
Also present at the signing ceremony were President/CEO of Jane Tour & DMC, Jane Han and her company’s Southeast Asia Team M.I.C.E Part Sales Director, Agatha Brendon Lee.
Jane and Kim later gave presentations on Gwangju to representatives of tour and travel companies from Sabah.
Jane expressed confidence that Gwangju would be a popular new travel destination for Malaysians, especially Sabahans
“Malaysia has the biggest MICE market. One hundred per cent of my groups are incentive travellers like those from Amway and CNI,” she disclosed.
In his welcoming speech, Winston was grateful that Jane Tour had chosen Sabah to do a presentation on Gwangju.
“This is the first time they are coming to Sabah which is very good news to us because for the past 20 years we have only been conducting tours to Seoul, Jeju and recently Busan. We have never been to Gwangju. This is a very good chance for us to know Gwangju through this presentation,” he said.
Gwangju, which is called the City of Light, has a population of 1.4 million. It is the birthplace of a modern democratic movement in Korea. One its many tourist attractions is Mount Mudungsan.
Being the cultural hub of South Korea, the city hosts several popular festivals, among them the World Kimchi Culture Festival, Gwangju Biennale and Chungjang Recollection Festival.