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Research on the Korean Receptive Operators in <strong>California</strong><br />
1. Backgrounder: Why the roles of Korean receptive operators are important?<br />
• Most of Korean travelers who visit <strong>California</strong> go through a travel agent in Korea to<br />
purchase either airline tickets or air-tel, or even multi-day group tour packages. And<br />
those travelers, whether traveling as a group or independently, depend on receptive<br />
operators to guide them during their stay. Receptive operators play especially an<br />
important role when it comes to what tours customers decide to purchase once they arrive<br />
in <strong>California</strong>. (Yosemite vs. Grand Canyon; Universal vs. Disneyland; Palm Spring vs.<br />
Las Vegas).<br />
• Korean receptive operators, including those based in LA/SF, currently sell not only<br />
<strong>California</strong>-exclusive tours but also a variety of tours including non-<strong>California</strong> regions in<br />
the USA. So, it is important for CTTC HQ to network with them and to help them<br />
increase destination knowledge of <strong>California</strong>, and also encourage them to develop<br />
<strong>California</strong>-only tour programs to help them push selling <strong>California</strong> products more<br />
aggressively.<br />
2. Profiles for the Receptive Tour Operators<br />
(1) Samho Tour Inc:<br />
• Address: 3030 W. Olympic Blvd. Suite 104 Los Angeles, CA 90006<br />
• Tel: 213-427-5500<br />
• Website: www. Samhotour.com<br />
• Contacts: Steve Shin (President) ; Kevin Limb (Operation Director);<br />
Bruce Ha (Executive Director) ohmyguide2000@yahoo.co.kr;<br />
John Choi (Marketing Management) samhochoi@hotmail.com ;<br />
Kevin Choi (Team leader) kevin07014@gmail.com<br />
Samho Tour is the largest receptive operator in terms of volume for handling Western<br />
America tour program, handling over 100,000 Korean tourists a year. Samho’s main<br />
customers (70%) are those who purchase tours once they have arrived in the USA.<br />
These customers are usually VFR market or business travelers who may not have prepurchased<br />
a leisure tour package through a travel agent in Korea. The rest (30%) of the<br />
customers are those who have come to USA through purchasing multiple day tour<br />
packages in Korea. These customers often times will extend their stay in the USA after<br />
the tour. In other words, most of their customers are already in <strong>California</strong> and look for<br />
local tour packages after completing their main purpose of their visit, whether it’s<br />
business or VFR. Samho also sells a variety of other tours, including winery tours to<br />
Napa and Sonoma, Yosemite, and tours that involve neighboring regions such as the<br />
Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. With the implementation of the VWP, the agent is<br />
planning to sell its tour products directly to Korean travelers in Korea in the future.<br />
(2) JN Tour:<br />
• Address: 3680 Wilshire Blvd., #105, L.A., CA 90010
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