Every country has its own representative cultural heritage. For example, Gyeongbokgung is the last symbol of the Chosun Dynasty of the Republic of Korea. The Eiffel Tower was made to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Buckingham Palace stands for the United Kingdom. These are the most frequently visited places by tourists, and they show not only the history of a country but also provide a major source of income for a nation. Then, is Korea making a good use of their cultural properties well enough?

Korea has gone through a lot in the past 100 years. The era of dynasties has come to an end, and Korea gained its independence after being colonized by Japanese. Besides, due to the dramatic economic growth, Korea has gained the title of “The first country changing from receiving economic aids into one providing assistance.”

In Korea there are cultural properties that can prove the existence of its eventful history. Although these cultural properties deserve to get people’s attention, it seems that they are not getting the attention that they deserve.

For the major activities of foreign tourists in Korea, shopping was the highest rating with 71.5%, but visiting the historic sites ranked fourth with 26.2%. The result was based on a survey, which was conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It was undertaken by surveying 12,900 foreign tourists aged above 15, who visited South Korea in 2015. It shows that foreigners are seldom interested in our cultural properties compared to shopping.

In addition, when the cultural properties and tourist attractions are built together, eateries are always nearby. In this case, people only visit those places for eating and it is called “Meok Bang tour.” They tend to try famous food in that area rather than taking interested in and visiting the cultural properties. One of the examples would be Jeonju Hanok Village. Jeonju Hanok Village can be dated back to the Koryo Dynasty at a time when there was resistance against the expansion of Japanese’s influence during Japanese colonization. However, these days, Jeonju is not famous for its cultural properties and it is rather famous for delicious street food (Meok Bang tour). Although there are many cultural properties in Jeonju, such as Donggo Sanseong Fortress or Bangok Seowon, the only popular places are Gyeonggijeon and Jeondong Catholic Church which are constructed close to a well-organized business area. People have stopped visiting cultural properties, which are not well-known or do not have well-organized business areas close to them. People do not even know what kind of local cultural properties are close by and make other people interested in visiting them. Also, they are not interested in how to preserve and protect them. 

How about other countries? Unlike Korea, where well-preserved sites are hard to be found, in Europe, many historical architectures still remain all over the city and people still live in these places. In France, people cannot change the height requirements nor arbitrary architectural structures without the historic preservation committee’s permission. As it is impossible to arbitrarily change the architectural design, in Paris, the city is spread out like the spokes of a wheel to suppress a rebellion in the past. Starting from the Triumphal Arch, which is located in the center of the city, many ancient buildings, statues, sculptures and memorial halls on the pavement make Paris into a giant museum. Just like France, other European countries preserve and protect their cultural properties and, by doing so, they attract many foreign visitors into their countries. 

Most Europe countries attract many visitors with well-preserved cultural traces which are still existed harmoniously within the cities. According to UNWTO’s (United Nations World Tourism Organization) Compendium of Tourism Statistics, the average rate of tourism income in comparison with GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Europe countries is 8.1%. It is fairly high rate compared with Korea, which has only 1.6%.

Ranking top 15 of the competitive tourism system, attracting 20 million foreign tourists, and securing $30 billion income from tourism are the images of the “rich tourism country”, which Korea hopes to achieve by 2020. Of course, luring visitors with shopping and modern facilities can be one way to beat the odds. However, if this happens, foreigners might think of shopping, plastic surgery, or medical technology when they hear the word “Korea.” It may give them the wrong impression of Korea. Let's encourage foreigners to think, "Korea preserves their culture and history well enough and there are lots of places to visit" rather than "Korea is a good country to shop around."