Korea Time Tour understands that tourists have a finite amount of time while in South Korea. The company is determined not to waste a second of it. It offers attraction-packed day trips from Seoul to more unexpected destinations like the Garden of Morning Calm and Hwaseong Fortress.
Taejung Park, a manager at Korea Time Tour, joined the company in 2017, the same year it launched. Back then, it was her, the CEO, and one guide operating one tour to Mount Seorak and Nami Island. The business has now professionalized, with five office employees, over 15 guides, and more than 10 tours.
“As you can see from our company's name, we want to make the customers' time in Korea valuable,” Taejung says. “We understand that they spend a specific, limited time here. We want to give them special moments in Korea.”
In 2025, Korea Time Tour welcomed 25,000 customers on its tours. For 2026, the numbers are looking even more promising, with 16,000 customers from January through June alone. The company is forecasting 50,000 customers by the end of the year.
We spoke to Taejung about growing after COVID, turning customer feedback into stronger itineraries, and why small changes to tours and operations can shape long-term success.
Have you been surprised by anything since working with, GetYourGuide?
Yes, actually. In the last two years, we’ve witnessed GetYourGuide grow a lot. We receive many bookings from the platform these days. In 2018, we had less than 10% of our bookings from GetYourGuide — it was actually like 1% or something. Now we get about 26% to 28% of our total bookings from GetYourGuide.
Which are your best-performing products, and why do you think those are the most popular on GetYourGuide?
Our signature product is our tour of Mount Seorak, Nami Island, and the Garden of Morning Calm. This isn’t just because it was our company’s first product, but because it’s a tour we operate with great pride.
Many people weren’t familiar with this kind of tour because it’s very difficult. It takes a long time, from morning to evening, and the distance is long. However, our guide really does the best they can. People are truly satisfied with the service and the beautiful nature. They never knew Korea had these kinds of mountains.
Leveraging our unique expertise, we design optimal routes and itineraries that allow guests to experience a great deal within a limited timeframe. We are dedicated to helping our customers make the most of their valuable time.
Since that was your very first tour and you're still running it today, how has it changed?
At the beginning, we visited only two places — Mount Seorak and Nami Island. We hadn't added the Garden of Morning Calm, but some customers wanted to go there.
We started visiting three places in one day. We initially thought this would be too hard for the customers, but people really enjoyed it.
Based on our own strategies, such as optimizing travel routes and avoiding traffic congestion, we have made it possible to visit three different locations. Our tour of Seoraksan Mountain, Nami Island, and the Garden of Morning Calm embodies our slogan: "Save Your Time."
Have you changed any other tours or operations because of a GetYourGuide review?
We’ve changed a lot because we review our feedback carefully every day. In Korea, it’s very competitive in terms of review ratings. Most of our products are rated above 4.8 right now, but we try to maintain a 5.0 rating.
If the rating drops a little bit, all of our staff get really nervous. We review why we got that review and if we missed anything during the tour. We communicate with the guide about the situation.
We received feedback that riding the rail bike on extremely hot days was an agonizing and potentially dangerous experience. In such cases, we offer customers a choice: they can proceed with the rail bike ride, or opt for a safer, cooler alternative. We have gained valuable know-how on how to provide the best possible experience under these unique circumstances.
It’s difficult, but if customers comment on anything, we try to improve that part.
How are you handling it if some of your tours sell out and others do not?
People can search our company's name and sort the tours that way, but I don't think they’re looking exclusively at tours from our company. They search for the destinations they want to go to, look at all the related tours, and then select one. If we don't have that date option, they won't select us.
If they select our option and the tour cannot be operated, we contact the customer directly, explain the situation, and lead them to book another option, tour, or date. We suggest alternatives to the customers.
Would you say you're more focused on simply creating popular tours?
Yes, but an exceptional example is our Suwon fortress tour. The tour wasn't popular before, but we selected this area because we expected it to become very popular later.
We revised it several times after registering it on GetYourGuide. We listened to customer feedback and our staff's opinions, and we finally set up the tour by adding a hanbok and gimbap experience center.
At first, we thought this tour might fail because a hanbok and gimbap center might not appeal to European customers. However, we can see that this tour is very popular on GetYourGuide.
We don't fully know the reason, but I think this tour is unique because we've added an experience that other tour suppliers don't offer. We have the tour listed on other OTAs as well, but it just so happens that it’s mostly being booked through GetYourGuide.
What are customers typically saying about your tours in your reviews?
Most of the reviews praise the guides' attitudes, their timeline management, or their explanations of the destinations.
We review everything left in the reviews. Whenever we receive feedback saying a guide had a great attitude or did an amazing job, we share that review and the guide's name with the other guides, too, so they can refer to it and try to replicate that standard.
Do you have any memorable stories from your tours to share?
Seoraksan is the third-tallest mountain in South Korea. We typically guide guests along a route that takes about two and a half hours round-trip.
Four guests once asked if they could visit Ulsanbawi Rock. That route usually takes five hours round-trip. However, we told them: "One of our guides made the round trip in just two and a half hours. Do you think you can do it? If you're up for the challenge, I'll show you the fastest route to Ulsanbawi Rock."
And that guest returned within the allotted time. They said that, while the climb was incredibly tough, the sight of Ulsanbawi Rock unfolding before them was magnificent, and they were deeply moved by the scenery.
They expressed such happiness, saying that having the opportunity to visit a mountain like this in Korea made it the best mountain experience of their life. Whenever we see someone so genuinely happy and enjoying themselves, we feel a great sense of pride and draw strength from it.
That guest was the first to make the trip to Ulsanbawi. Since then, many others have taken on the challenge. Typically, for every two teams that attempt it, about one team completes the full journey.
Key Takeaways
- Add stops to enhance tours: Korea Time Tour has added an additional destination to two different tour itineraries. This helps its products stand out from competitors and supports its mission of showing visitors more of the country on a limited timetable.
- Evolve with reviews: Korea Time Tour regularly reviews customer feedback, discussing opportunities for improvement but also sharing praise among the staff.
- Handle product inventory smart: When some of its tours sell out or can’t be operated, Korea Time Tour suggests alternatives to customers, drawing them to its other products.
- Increase GetYourGuide bookings: From 2018 to 2026, Korea Time Tour has increased its GetYourGuide bookings from around 1% to 26–28% of its total bookings.
- Make profitable adjustments: Korea Time Tour saw a 10% increase in bookings after adding more keywords to its descriptions and increasing the number of operational days on GetYourGuide.
