All this talk about South Korea reminds me of the time that I have spent there in Seoul. I did not experience any discrimination and in fact I would even say that the people I have encountered seemed to do the opposite. They showed me what a great place South Korea is. I have even attended events in which being a foreigner was a plus as they let me in early or they made concessions for me because they believed I would have trouble understanding what was going. The people were friendly and helpful when I had to order or navigate the subway system. That does not mean that I did not have any bad experiences while I was there but they were things that could have happened in any country. What helped me enjoy my time there was being able to participate in events that were only for foreigners. The Seoul tourism office created a group called Seoul mates in which foreigners who are in the country from 3-6 months up to a year were invited to attend events for free as long as they wrote about it in a blog. You would be able to attend different festivals held during the year as well as performances. This way you become more than a tourist, you started to become part of the culture.
This got me to think about the programs we have in place for our tourists. Besides offering tours in their native language, do we do anything else to promote our culture and events? Do we say, hey if you’re going to be here during this week, you could attend it for free as long as you write about it or at a discounted rate? I know we don’t need help in the tourist area but after traveling for two years, they way we approach tourism in the US is very unattractive. I spent one night in Budapest and it was absolutely amazing. Why? Because, when I got off the plane, there were all these brochures advertising ways to get around the city and discounts for foreigners at local establishments. I managed to sneak in a trip to the spa because they had a 25% discount for foreigners. When I looked up Fort Lauderdale tourist attractions there are several websites that pop up and most of them are connected to Trip Advisor, which doesn’t help if you only have negative reviews on the attraction. Maybe they just expect the tourists to go shopping as Sawgrass Mills is frequently mentioned.