Study of Flexible Pass Introducing Measures: Rail Pass for Foreigners

초록

In the past recent years, there has been an increase in the number of tourists visiting Korea. On that same note, travel behaviors, lengths of stay, and the tourist attractions they visit are becoming diverse as well. The growing number of tourists directly affects the tour package sales for foreigners and it, indeed, shows an increased number of railroad tour package sales for foreigners. However, as of right now there is only one type of railroad tour pass for foreigners in Korea, which is a continuous pass. It is different from the Eurail Pass of Europe and the JR Pass that are railroad tour passes for foreigners which provide both a continuous pass and a flexible pass. As flexible passes are increasing around the world, it is required to follow the trend. Moreover, as foreign tourists’ tour patterns have been diversified, the change is necessary to support not only these diversified patterns, but also the increased number of foreign tourists who visit Korea. So far, there is only one option for the railroad tour package for foreigners in Korea which makes it hard to meet the various needs of foreign tourists. If the railroad tour pass is limited to the continuous pass only, traveling options are limited as well. Hence, this paper analyzes various examples of flexible passes in foreign countries, and travel behaviors of foreign tourists who visit Korea. It also proposes suitable products and users to adopt a flexible pass which helps foreign tourists visit various attractions that fit for different lengths of stay.