In December of last year, Carl TC Gutierrez, director of the Guam Tourism Board메이저사이트 , who visited Korea to promote Guam travel, thought, ‘Ah, Korean guests are coming’ as he heard a baby cry on the flight back to Guam.
“It was like the plane had become a kindergarten,” he said. A 4 hour and 30 minute flight is short if it is short, but it can be difficult for children. Personally, I was a bit happy watching the children complaining to their parents as time went on. I was excited to think that Korean tourists would visit Guam again.”
In an interview that lasted about an hour, Gutiérrez, director of the Tourism Agency, could not stop his affection for Korean tourists. There were about 750,000 Koreans who visited Guam in 2019, before the outbreak of Corona 19. This figure accounts for 45% of Guam’s tourists. Moreover, of the 440,000 tourists who visited Guam from October last year to July 7 this year, 62.7% (276,143) were Koreans. This indicates that Korea is an important market for Guam.
The tourism industry has slowed due to Corona 19 and Typhoon ‘Mawar’, but South Korean tourists for the holiday season are returning, said Gutiérrez, head of the tourism board. He said, “I see Koreans coming and going to and from the company to play,” and “they are coming back.”
When asked why major tourist attractions were able to normalize quickly after the typhoon, Gutierreza, the head of the tourism office, said, “We are used to typhoons.” are preparing,” he said.
An official from the Guam Tourism Board also said, “In the United States, when building a building, it must pass strict standards in order to be able to build it. Because the building itself is built strong, there was no major damage from this typhoon. There were no casualties,” he said.
Tourism Commissioner Gutiérrez also delivered a big thank you to the Korean community. He said, “I heard that when tourists ran out of food and medicine, Korean residents provided necessary items.” “I heard that some people let them stay at their homes. In particular, I know that Kim In-guk, the head of the Juha Ghana branch office, put a lot of effort into helping tourists return to their homeland as soon as possible.”
Tourism Commissioner Gutierrez said that the damage caused by the typhoon would make sure that such damage does not happen again in Guam. He also said that he would make efforts to provide tourists with a variety of experiences in Guam, just like before COVID-19. He announced that he provided 25,000 dollars (approximately 32 million won) each to those who do tourism business, and started a street maintenance project using solar power.
“I heard that there is a trend of traveling alone in Korea. Guam is a very safe place to travel, so there are many tourists with families. However, by strengthening patrols, etc., we are trying to make tourists travel more safe. We will also make workation (remote work) possible in Guam. I think it would be a good trip to come alone and feel the charm of Guam.”
Tourism Director Gutiérrez is planning several activities, such as a ‘glamping’ program. However, he said that he would not miss the ‘beauty of nature’, which is the core of tourism in Guam.
“Emerald sea, beautiful flowers and trees… . I think Guam is a blessed place just to be able to feel this kind of nature. It will be a great pleasure just to feel Guam itself.”