The 21st KOTFA SHOW 2008

On June 5-8, 2008, the Palau Visitors Authority attended the 21st KOTFA SHOW (Korean World Travel Fair) held at the COEX Center in Seoul, South Korea. This was PVA’s second time at this show as the first time proved to be a success in promoting Palau to the Korean market. The KOTFA SHOW is a 4-day event aimed at promoting the exchange of travel information by sharing new ideas, products as well as promoting domestic and international travel by introducing new travel destinations. The Palau booth was located in the Pacific Hall, where countries like Japan, Indonesia, Mongolia, Philippines, and Taiwan were situated. The Palau Visitors Authority was joined by two representatives of the following resorts; Palau Pacific Resort and Palau Royal Resort. During the 4-day show, PVA with PPR and PRR staff handed out more than 6,000 promotional items and answered questions relating to Palau’s infrastructure, tourism industry, and airlines flying to Palau, the time and distance to fly from Korea to Palau and general information on Palau.

The most frequently asked questions by visitors to the Palau booth were “Where is Palau? How can we go to Palau? Is it part of the Philippines? What is the main language used in Palau?” The Korean market is the third highest market coming to Palau in terms of arrivals, it is a potential market to explore and promote Palau to it. The total arrivals from Korea to Palau increased by 22% in 2007 compared to the previous year. This year, according to the latest arrival statistics to the month of May 2008, Palau has received a total of 5,605 Koreans. This number is projected to increase due to the continuation of Asiana Airlines’ two chartered flights per week to Palau via Korea.

The KOTFA SHOW this year had an increase in the number of organizations, countries and exhibitors as well as a record-high number of visitors who visited the show. The number of Organizations was 416, the number of Exhibitors was 2,826, the number of countries was 50 and the number of visitors was 89,082 (3.62% increase, last years’ attendance was 85,969) The KOTFA show awarded the Palau Visitors Authority with a special “Recognition Award” for attending the show for two consecutive times. The Palau Visitors Authority would like to take this opportunity to recognize and appreciate HANA Tour, Asiana Airlines, Palau Pacific Resort and Palau Royal Resort and the KOTFA Show Secretariat for making this 21st KOTFA Show a success for Palau.