He is set to attend the ASEAN+3 Tourism Ministers Meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Tourism Forum, which kicked off earlier this week and runs until next Monday, bringing together tourism ministers and other officials from ASEAN's 10 member countries and neighboring nations.
While co-chairing the meeting with his Malaysian counterpart Tiong King Sing on Sunday, Yu plans to highlight South Korea's appeal as one of the top tourist destinations in Asia, while also signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate in the tourism sector, marking 65 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
During his stay, Yu is also scheduled to hold talks with his Indonesian and Cambodian counterparts on Saturday to strengthen partnerships in tourism as well as Official Development Assistance (ODA) programs.
Indonesia, home to 280 million people with a mostly young population under 30, is considered a burgeoning market for tourism.
"Since seven out of the 10 ASEAN countries are also members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), we will explore various ways to enhance tourism cooperation," Yu said.
To attract more visitors to Seoul, the ministry will participate in Malaysia's largest tourism fair, the MATTA Fair, scheduled for April, and also plans to host a tourism expo in Kuala Lumpur in June.
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