Argentine Ambassador Jorge Roballo promoted travel to his country in a special seminar and luncheon geared mostly to established local tour operators and travel agencies at Buenos Aires Wine & Steak House in southern Seoul on Wednesday.

Argentina is now making a focused effort in South Korea to promote travel to the South American country.

“The idea is to introduce to (tour operators) opportunities in Argentina to take into account the vast number of activities all year round, especially so-called counter seasonal tourism,” Roballo said at the gathering with about a dozen tour operators and agents.

Tour operators at the event disagreed on the number of South Koreans who visited Argentina last year, because of the fact that many visit by crossing from Chile and Brazil and not by flying directly to Buenos Aires.

Between 9,000 and 20,000 South Koreans are estimated to have traveled to Argentina in 2013. The embassy did not have official figures.

“We are located on the other side of the world and there is a lot to discover down there. As people keep crossing continents in search of cultural experiences ... firsthand, a country’s unique cultural offers will always be a thrilling challenge,” he said.

The seminar provided a number of ideas to tour operators and travel agents for their clients. For example, one of the activities promoted on Wednesday was taking a tango dance class in the Buenos Aires district of La Boca, the Italian quarter of the city and the traditional birth place of the Tango. Another was site seeing in Recoleta, the Buenos Aires district that the city known as the “Paris of Latin America.”

South Korea and Argentina celebrated the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations last year. The two countries celebrate the first Korean immigration to Argentina next year in 2015.

(ephilip2014@heraldcorp.com)