The Korea Tourism Organisation has opened an office in Manila, Philippines.

The office is first in the Philippines, and will benefit those travellers wishing to learn more about Korea as prime MICE, leisure travel and medical tourism destination, as well as local travel agencies, tour operators, and airlines.

Sangyong Zhu, the director of the Korea Tourism Organisation office in Manila, said that KTO will be spearheading marketing activities like developing new travel packages, introducing Korean medical tourism, and advertising campaigns that will cater to the demands of Filipino travellers.

According to recent statistics, almost one million Koreans visited the Philippines in 2011, and 337,000 Filipinos - or 3.4 per cent of the total number of 9.8 million foreign visitors to Korea - visited Korea last year.

The new Manila office will help the KTO meet its objectives for 2012 of an approximately ten per cent increase in visitor arrivals over 2011.