<Anchor>
As social distancing due to COVID-19 is lifted, more and more foreign tourists are trying to enjoy winter in Korea.
In particular, reporter Cho Jae-geun went to a ski resort in Korea where once you enjoy it, you have no choice but to come back.
<Reporter>
These are people wearing snowboards, sitting in the snow, listening to the explanations of instructors and tour guides, and Hong Kong tourists who visited Gangwon-do for 3 nights and 4 days to learn how to ski.
It's a bitter cold of minus 10 degrees, which is usually unimaginable, but the joy of seeing white snow again is greater.
[Kawal (Hong Kong)/Ski Tourist: I like snow and winter.
(Isn't it cold?) It's not cold.]
After learning the basics, go down the slope little by little with the help of the instructor.
[Kowi (Hong Kong)/Ski Tourist: It's hard to learn, but it's fun.
I think it will be fun if I learn well and can ride well by myself this time.]
More than 1,000 foreigners flocked to the foreign ski tourism product that started selling for the first time in 1998.
Customers who went to the ski resort once led to a virtuous cycle in which more than 450,000 foreigners used the domestic ski resort in the season immediately before COVID-19.
[Mamamy (Hong Kong)/ Third visit to the ski resort: I like skiing.
Korea is very comfortable and this ski program is a good event that includes everything from lessons to meals, so I came back to Korea.]
Foreign tourists, who recorded 17 million a year just before Corona 19, plummeted below 1 million last year, but it is estimated that 3.1 million people visited this year, showing a gradual recovery.
Winter festivals in Gangwon, including the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival, visited by 100,000 foreign tourists annually, are scheduled to resume after three years.
(Video coverage: Heo Chun)