Korea has a long successful history of handling international mega-events, beginning with the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, the 2000 Asia-Europe Meeting, and recently, the 2002 FIFA World Cup and Busan Asian Games. Through the successful hosting of these international events, Korea has steadily developed into a major international convention destination in Asia. The Korea Convention Bureau calculated
that in the past ten years, Korea’s convention industry has grown at an annual average rate of 9.8% (KNTO 2000). The country has already started increasing this rate as more than 190 international events have been scheduled between 2002 and 2009 (CEI, 2002). Upcoming events that will be held in Korea include the 42nd International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) General Assembly in 2003, and the 53rd Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA) Annual Conference in 2004.