On Thursday, 9 January, we had our first appointment with the biggest travel agency in Korea, Hana Tour.
Since the meeting point was set nearby Jonggak Station in Seoul, where the headquarters of the company is located at, our team gathered in front of the Mark Hotel, which as we found out that day, is the first hotel established by the enterprise.
After the representative of Hana Tour joined us, we first had lunch at the basement floor of the building where the main cafeteria of the agency is.
As you can see, the food was rather delicious, with the main dishes being tonkatsu (Japanese pork cutlet) and pasta. We all enjoyed it.
After lunch, we took a tour of the main building that is situated across the street from the Mark Hotel.
Its first floors are occupied by the SM Duty Free which, as its name suggests, is a duty-free mall owned by Hana Tour.
While browsing around the stores, we were able to check out international luxury brands as well as local K-beauty products!
There is also a space inside the mall specially designated for video and photo shootings, as you can see below.
Next, on our way to the lecture room we stopped by the History Room of Hana Tour where we learnt more about the journey of the company from its establishment till present days.
Despite being originally founded as a travel agency between 1993-1996, it later expanded its activities to other sectors such as production and distribution of cultural products as well as duty-free retail, hotel and internet businesses, some of which I have mentioned above.
Together, we traveled back to its early days~ and returned to the present.
After the tour around the History Room, we moved to the conference room where we received a special lecture about Hana Tour's CSR programs. The lecture was held by the main director coordinator of the Hana Tour Foundation.
Throughout the lecture, she introduced to us one of the main programs held by this branch of the company, called "희망여행", which in English translates as "Hope Travel". This initiative aims to help different disadvantaged groups of people with traveling. Some of their social programs targets include kids from poor countries, disabled people and whole families.
One of the examples she presented was the "Disabled Orchestra" initiative during which the Hana Tour Foundation organized a trip to Taiwan for talented young people with disabilities and their parents, providing them with the opportunity to perform while traveling. For most of the participants, that has been their very first trip abroad. As we had the chance to watch a video of the activity, I could feel their struggles, realizing how important it is to try to develop one's talent regardless of origins or background.
At the end of the lecture there was a Q&A session, after which we received a sheet of paper to express our opinions on the topic of 'power of travel' in a single sentence.
Upon exiting the company building, we took a photo in front of the Running Man statue as well as a short tour of the Running Man Thematic Experience Center!
We also received some really cute souvenirs. Thank you, Hana Tour, Hana Tour Foundation and, especially, our mentors, for this unique opportunity.
Overall, this was a really fascinating experience and I am looking forward to the next company visit.
-Vanessa Pelmus
pelmusvanessa@gmail.com