Korea?s HUGE tourist deficit has always been a problem.? Tickets to fly abroad are frequently sold out weeks or months before a national holiday, but fully booked inbound flights containing anything other than returning Koreans are exceedingly rare.? If I had to guess, I?d say that Korea doesn?t actually want these foreigners to come and watch the games at all, but rather they want the attention and image boost that supposedly comes with hosting a major world sporting event.? (This is up for debate as Korea?s image didn?t improve much during the 2002 world cup when it had to share the games with it?s arguably more refined neighbor Japan).
What makes me wince every time is the lengths to which the K-Government go to secure what amounts to these little international pats on the back.? I mean, I can?t imagine Obama (too busy running the free world) flying to a foreign country, lobbying for a chance to host the games.? Can?t imagine Berlusconi (too busy doing manly man things) flying around the world lobbying for the games to be hosted in his country.
To be honest, the whole campaign comes off as being a tad bit desperate.? I realize that a lot ?important people? have been speculating on land in and around the rural and relatively poor hamlet of Pyeongchang since before the first failed bid with hope being rekindled during each subsequent bid. ?I get it, these people need to get paid and Korea needs every little bit of approval and back-patting from the international community that it can get; but I still don?t understand, and I?ll explain why.
Perhaps the most puzzling aspect Pyeongchang?s ?Victory? is the place itself.? I?m not trying to shit on anyone?s parade here, but I?ve actually been to Pyeongchang on a misguided ski trip booked through a tour bus agency several years ago.? Let?s just say it ain?t Aspen.
At the time there were only one or two resorts in the entire place.? There were no cafes and no international restaurants. ?Come to think of it, the only place we could buy food before noon was at convenience stores.? Aside from those two large resorts, the only accommodation available were love motels.? Forget being a ?Winter Sports Hub?; Pyeongchang isn?t a ?hub? of anything. ?The word ?hub? is frequently used by Government Ministries in Korea.? I?ve heard the government refer to this country as ?The Tourism Hub of East Asia?, ?The Shopping Hub of East Asia?, ?Premiere Medical Tourism Hub of East Asia?, ?A Strategically Located Shipping Hub?, ?A Strategically Located International Business Hub?.? All dubious titles at best.
I especially gagged when I heard the ?Strategically Located International Business Hub of east Asia? line.? Come on now, the flight time from Tokyo to Shanghai is three hours; do business people from either of those two massively larger economies really need to be stopping over in Korea to conduct their business?? What kind of sense does that make at all?? I mean Korea may be a marginally cheaper place for Japanese companies to build computer chips and circuit boards, but then China is just three hours from Tokyo.? Why the fuck is anyone with any type of production need going to open a factory in Korea when they can go next door and get the same service but with cheaper labor and operating costs?
We don?t live in a manufacturing hub or a business hub.
The most recent dubious title has been the ?Culture Hub? title.? Yes, Korea has a culture as does every single other country in the world.? The word ?hub? doesn?t belong in the same sentence as ?culture? with regards to Korea.? While Korean culture is certainly unique, an almost entirely homogeneous country will never be anything approaching a ?culture hub?.? Perhaps the government needs to ban future use of the word hub before Asian tourists and business people start showing up expecting to actually see some type of hub where no hub actually exists.
Winter Sports Culture, Where is it?
Koreans don?t like sports.? They only watch the Olympics and World cup because they are eager to see Korean players on Korean teams representing Korea and Korean people.? Actual interest in the games themselves is quite low.? It?s all Korea, all the time.? If Korea ain?t playing, then for the most part, Korea ain?t watching.
Winter sports are almost non-existent in Korea aside from short track skating and figure skating (are these even real sports?).? Korean Hockey teams are practically non-existent and those who do get together for the occasional match mire in obscurity when compared with the likes of the National Short Track Team and Korea?s own celebrity super-star Ice Princess.? Nobody knows what cross country skiing is, has any interest in it, or any place to actually try it.? Korea?s biggest and most well equipped winter sports facility is located in North Jeolla province, on the opposite side of the country from Pyeongchang (Gangwon province).
Korea essentially has no interest or experience in Winter Sports, and thus the investment required to create the necessary infrastructure will now be dumped into Pyeongchang with great hopes of impressing the world with Korea?s ?winter sports culture?.? Only problem is that before the locals can show off their ?winter sports culture?, someone actually has to CREATE IT.? The Olympics, much like the tourists it will bring, will disappear quickly; leaving behind a huge mess of buildings and facilities that are unlikely to ever be used by the locals themselves.? 7 years from now, the Winter Olympics will be held in Pyeongchang.? 8 years from now, Pyeongchang will probably be a ghost town, but at least the ghost town will be sitting on a really expensive piece of land.
I?m also curious who is going to be building all the shit that is missing but required, such as bobsled tracks that Korean engineers have zero experience building.? Far from being a winter sports hub, South Korea has no bobsled course and the team owns only two sleds for use in international competitions which they can?t afford to ship back and forth.? A bobsled team usually has 2-4 members.? Up until 2009, two of Korea?s national bobsled team members were actually Ukrainian.
What kind of winter sports hub of almost 49million people can?t even get four people together to make a bobsled team?? Now that we are getting our bobsled track, it begs the question: who?s going to use the damn thing when the Olympics are over?? And if no one will be using it, how much is it going to cost to maintain, seeing as how the Olympics are unlikely to ever be hosted in the same city again?
Korea only gained world Winter Olympic notoriety for it?s incredibly poor reaction to the 2002 disqualification of its short track speed skater.? There were threats of lawsuits, boycotts and violence.? Anti-American sentiment was rampant; all because of a silly, stupid skating event.? Judges were threatened and the US skating team couldn?t even compete in events two years later because they received so many death threats from Koreans. ?Is this how Korea will react during the 2018 games?? Will the American team still be unable to even enter the country due to death threats?? What if Korea loses an event, do tourists need to be concerned for their safety, or has Korea matured during the last few short years?
I suggest that the short track team and possibly foreign figure skating contestants may want to invest in a security team for themselves.? I?m also guessing that the judges and American teams may want to adopt a ?just let Korea win? attitude in the interest of getting out of the country alive after the event.? Korea loves to celebrate a good Korean win, but they sure don?t take losing well.
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Source: http://www.expathell.com/?p=3144
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