South Korea – आवारा मुसाफिर

Starbucks serves South Koreans coffee and glimpse into the North

November 30, 202481 Views

The world's last Cold War frontier now has a Starbucks cafe in South Korea where customers can get a glimpse through the heavily militarised border into the North, all while sipping a latte. Hundreds showed up on Friday for the opening of the U.S. coffeehouse chain's newest store in an observatory near the city of Gimpo, around 50 km (31 miles) northwest of Seoul and close to the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. Customers queue up in front of the new store of Starbucks at the top of the Aegibong Peak Observatory, south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), separating the two Koreas, in Gimpo, South Korea, November 29, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Soo-hyeon The DMZ has become an unlikely draw for foreign and local tourists, despite a spike in tensions on the Korean peninsula in recen...

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Blue House in Seoul opens to public for 1st time in 74 years

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May 18, 2022833 Views

For many South Koreans, the former presidential palace in Seoul was a little-visited, heavily secured mountainside landmark. That’s now changed as thousands have been allowed a look inside for the first time in 74 years. As one of his first acts, the new South Korean leader has moved the presidential offices from the Blue House, named after its distinctive blue roof tiles, and opened its gates to the public, allowing a maximum of 39,000 people a day to visit. A royal stroll is reenacted at the Blue House, the former presidential palace, in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) The normally serious compound has been transformed into something like a fair, with excited crowds looking around and standing in long queues. “I feel grateful that the Blu...

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Outbound tourism from South Korea set to boom

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

April 29, 2022566 Views

Due to plummeting traveller confidence and stringent COVID-19 measures, outbound tourism from South Korea reduced to mere fractions of what they were in pre-pandemic times. Nevertheless, with the country now easing some of its pandemic restrictions, tourism demand among South Korean travelers is set to flourish, finds GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. GlobalData’s latest report, ‘South Korea Source Tourism Insight Report including International Departures, Domestic Trips, Key Destinations, Trends, Tourist Profiles, Analysis of Consumer Survey Responses, Spend Analysis, Risks and Future Opportunities, 2022 Update’ reveals that outbound tourism declined by 80.6% YoY from 2019 to 2020, to just 5.6 million international departures. Prior to COVID-19, South Korea was the thi...

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South Korea lifts most COVID precautions

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

April 19, 20221230 Views

South Korea lifted almost all of its COVID-19 precautions on Monday in a major step towards a return to normal life as the Omicron variant recedes and daily infections retreated to a more than two-month low of fewer than 50,000. A midnight curfew on restaurants and other businesses was scrapped, along with a cap of 10 people allowed to gather. From next week, people will be allowed to eat snacks in cinemas and other indoor public facilities such as stadiums. People are still required to wear masks, however, with the government planning to review whether to lift a rule for masks outdoors in two weeks. FILE PHOTO: Women wearing masks walk in a shopping district amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Seoul, South Korea, March 16, 2022. REUTERS/Heo Ran The relaxation of the rules come as t...

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South Koreans flock overseas for ‘revenge travel’ as COVID rules ease

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March 31, 2022387 Views

After spending two years being socially distanced in his home country of South Korea, Kim Hoe-jun booked a last-minute flight to Hawaii, where he had enjoyed his honeymoon six years ago, giving in to his craving for overseas travel. "I bought the ticket just a week ago, but it was rather a no-brainer. It felt like I was making up for those two years not being able to go abroad often as I used to before COVID," he said, before boarding the plane from Incheon International Airport on Friday. Vaccinated and boosted, Kim and his wife are among South Koreans joining in a rush for "revenge travel" - a term that has been trending on social media as people scramble to book overseas trips that were delayed by coronavirus restrictions. People wearing face masks to prevent contracting from ...

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South Korea’s beaches face threat from development, rising seas

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

November 20, 2021981 Views

For years, the crystalline blue water and soft sand of South Korea's Sacheonjin beach has been favoured by surfers and vacationers seeking a quieter experience than more crowded options on the east coast. But Choi Jong-min, who runs a guest house Sacheonjin, was shocked when high waves washed away major portions of the beach this year, including during a typhoon in August. "The waters have never been this close and the waves never so high for the past 12 years," Choi said at his guest house, looking out the window. "This place was famous for calm waves, but look, they're widely breaking now." Understructures are exposed at Jumunjin beach damaged by erosion, in Gangneung, South Korea, February 12, 2020. Jin Jae-joong/Kangwon National University Environmental Technology Research In...

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Drenched in purple, South Korean islands draw tourists

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

March 16, 20211492 Views

Dressed all in purple, bent-over women held long rakes aloft as they walked in a line to a lavender field to carry out some pruning on an island in southwest South Korea. Inspired by their native balloon flower, residents of the Banwol and Bakji Islands, known as the ‘Purple Islands’, have painted their houses, roads and bridges in shades of the hue, and planted purple flowers such as lavender and asters to transform their town into a tourist attraction. A general view of the Purple Island in Shinan, South Korea, March 9, 2021. Picture taken March 9, 2021. REUTERS/Daewoung Kim “Old people like us have a secluded life here, since all the young people left the town,” said villager Shin Deok-im, 79, who has lived on Bakji island for more than 60 years. “I’m glad to see young peo...

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Tee off in Thailand as tourists arrive for golf quarantine

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

February 24, 2021725 Views

Thailand has welcomed golfers from South Korea for the country’s new golf quarantine programme in a bid to boost tourism revenue hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. About 40 South Koreans are undergoing quarantine at Artitaya Country Club, an hour north of Bangkok, where they were tested on arrival last week, Tourism Authority of Thailand deputy governor, Thapanee Kiatphaibool, has said. Thailand has been successful in controlling coronavirus cases, but strict border controls have decimated its tourism industry, with revenues dropping by 83% as it went from 40 million visitors in 2019 to 6.7 million last year. The golf quarantine programme is drawing only a small fraction of around 250,000 South Korean golfers who visited Thailand in 2019, but officials hope it will grow at...