"Global Farm Experience" - Visiting Korea's Farming Villages with Inditravel

Farming village experience tours are new kind of themed travel growing in popularity in Korea. Unlike typical city tours, the tours offer travelers hands-on experience on a Korean farm and have caught the attention of overseas visitors in particular thanks to the Korean Wave.

Inspired by popular TV shows such as "Family Outing", "One Night, Two Days" and "Invincible Youth" that feature celebrities experiencing life on a farm, overseas fans of the Korean Wave have started to visit villages featured in the shows. And when they arrive, they want a hands-on experience just like the stars.

Building on that momentum, local governments, major travel agencies and a number of young CEOs started to organize experience tour programs. Thanks to their efforts, opportunities such as farm experience tours and Korean folklore experience tours are vitalizing Korean tourism by offering tourists an experience beyond just travel.

Seung Hyeon-shin is CEO of Inditravel, a newly established one-man business that brings international tourists and locals together at Korean farming villages through its "Global Farm Experience" travel program.

Originally a project manager at a large construction company, Shin's interest in the travel industry led him to selling postcards to tourists as a sideline. He then set up Inditravel and started making souvenirs.

Eventually Shin gave up his day job with the vision of transforming Korea into a popular tourist destination. Having started a successful guesthouse, he set out to visit popular international tourist destinations, staying for up to a month at each while planning his new business.

Upon his return to Korea, Shin set up a "Farm Experience" tour program for overseas tourists. As part of the program, tourists help on a farm during the day and prepare Samgyetang (a Korean traditional dish) in the evening. They also experience Korean culture by learning how to play traditional games and sports such as jegichagi and taekwondo. Not least, the program provides opportunities to create new friendships across national boundaries.

Thanks to the Inditravel farm experience program, farming villages have been revitalized. Shin now receives requests from local governments to run farm experience tours in their regions.

As well as farm experience tours, Shin is also investing his time in developing a comprehensive system providing independent travelers with information about accommodation, events, and eateries. He was inspired by the fact that many of the friends he met during his overseas travels were unable to reserve rooms or buy tickets for events in Korea because they couldn't do so on Google.

Shin's ultimate goal is to make Korea a truly popular tourist destination by developing new tour programs and is making efforts such as building a platform.

With young business people such as Seung Hyeon-shin passionate about developing Korean tourism, the options and quality of visitors' experience is increasing. The future of Korea's tourism industry looks safe in their hands.

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