April Edition Need to Know ArticlesWhatever your convention needs, remember that Seoul is a vibrant, dynamic city, with new convention and accommodation facilities appearing all the time. New this month: Promotional Hotel Business Meeting Packages  The Shilla Seoul, one of Asia's premiere luxury hotels, is continuing its popular Business Meeting Package event throughout 2010. This package is intended to assist event organizers from across the world with their every event-planning needs and will offer attendees with the finest in luxury accommodations. The package, which will be available to groups of at least 15 attendees, will offer a discounted rate for Deluxe rooms, meeting rooms, catering, and audio-visual support. The campaign will end in December of 2010, but event-planners are encouraged to make reservations as early as possible. The Shilla Seoul has won countless awards in recent years, including the Conde Nast Traveler's Annual Gold List, Zagat's World Best 100 Hotels, Travel + Leisure's 500 World's Best List and Institutional Investor's World Best Hotels. For more details, regarding the Business Meeting Package, please check the hotel's official website for more information.Developments in Transport  KTX-II, Korea's newest express train, was launched on March 2, 2010. These new trains will offer four additional daily trips from Seoul to Busan and from Yongsan to Gwangju. The KTX-II, like the original KTX express train, will run at 300km/hour, but will offer increased comfort with wider, completely rotatable seating, and will continue to offer state-of-the-art safety technology. The new trains will be fully equipped with DMB receivers, wireless internet, and snack cars, but ticket prices will not increase in spite of the upgrade. For more information, log-on to the official KORAIL website. Seoul has introduced four smart bus stops equipped with information and communications technology throughout the city. Passengers waiting for buses at these u-Shelters will be able to check real-time weather forecasts, traffic patterns, news, and locational information about Seoul city buses. These u-Shelters will ultimately enhance the public transportation experience for all those using Seoul city buses and will also allow passengers to make more efficient choices while traveling through Seoul. Developments in Dining  The Michelin Guide has decided to release a Korean edition of its highly-esteemed restaurant guide series. Since 1990, the French-based publications have evaluated exceptional cuisine from many of the world's finest restaurants, and in publishing a Korean guide, the country will join the ranks of France, Italy, Germany, Spain, The United States, and Japan in culinary exceptionality. The dining guides will not only highlight exceptional restaurants throughout the country, but a separate tourist destination guide will also be produced to offer visitors with vital information regarding Korea's best tourist sights.Developments in Tourist Services  The City of Seoul has launched the 120 Dasan Call Center, a free information hotline for foreigners with questions during their stay in Korea. This service, previously operated by the Seoul Global Center is now orchestrated by the 120 Dasan Call Center and will be open for business from 9:00AM to 10:00PM, 365 days a year. By dialing '120' from any phone, foreigners will be able to receive information on topics as diverse as tourist locations to questions regarding legal matters in Korea. Operators will be available in English, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Mongolian. The highly trained call center operators will be able to answer countless questions regarding Korea, but will also be equipped to direct callers to relevant government organizations like the Korea Tourism Organization, the Emergency Medical Information Center, or the Korea Migrants'' Center.
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