Bringing Authentic Korean Insight to Tourists
KHEPA is short for the “Korea History Explanation Promotion Agency”, which is a nonprofit under the Cultural Heritage Administration of the Korean Government dedicated to spreading history to the masses in an approachable manner for all. Its main activity consists of a “Youth Cultural Heritage Interpreter Fostering and Maintenance Program(청소년 문화유산해설사)” with interpreters from all around Korea volunteering to provide free tour guide programs in various cultural heritage locations. KHEPA’s most notable active cultural heritage location is Gyeongbokgung, where 20+ interpreters give free tours to 80+ visiting tourists every week.
It is a notable organization in the Korean Tourism industry, with ambitions to expand its branches to all provinces in Korea.
Overview
The KHEPA Digest is a collaborative project between high school students and the Korea Historical Explanation Promotion Agency(KHEPA), a non-profit company under the Cultural Heritage Administration of the Korean government. The founding members are based on the Korea International School Jeju (KISJ) Branch, including President Hyunseo Kim, and Senior Executives including Yunhoo(Edward) Park, Taemin Shin,. It was founded based on the surging demand of tourists visiting Korea and subsequently its main tourist destination Gyeongbokgung through the KHEPA. As staff of this agency, our president noticed the loss of valuable tourist(customer) database following the end of the Gyeongbokgung Tour and proposed the newsletter to increase the revisit rate and provide insights into having the most authentic Korean travel experience while visiting.
Mission
The mission of The KHEPA Digest is to become a leading medium of Korea’s valuable cultural information spread to foreigners visiting the country, along the likes of TripAdvisor and US News Travel specialized for Korea.
Vision (2024)
Our vision for “The KHEPA Digest” within one year of its launch is to expand its reader base from mere tourists visiting through Gyeongbokgung to any tourist visiting Korea by
First, expanding branches in schools all over the country including other International Schools, Foreign Language High Schools, and general high schools
Second, building a custom reservation system using Google Calendar for the KHEPA Gyeongbokgung tour guide service to systemize the booking system
Third, actively promote The KHEPA Digest in various international forums and communities such as TripAdvisor, and Facebook Communities to shift the main source of subscriber influx from Gyeongbokgung tourists to online traffic.