Abstract
This research focuses on the peace process and tourism development and cooperation between South Korea and North Korea prior to reunification. As a relatively new academic field, the development of the body of knowledge in tourism is immature. Lack of research focused on the politics of tourism, divided nations, and peace tourism, has been a drawback. It has required theoretical support from other disciplines and a methodology designed particularly for studying domestic and international tourists' perception to provide a fuller picture. The main objective of this study is an attempt to reveal the impacts of the peace process on potential Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) tourism development. The research undertakes an in-depth investigation of potential DMZ tourism development in the two Koreas, in order to reveal the picture of past and present conditions, as well as to identify tourism potential after the future peaceful reunification of the two Koreas. Tourism experts were consulted about their anticipation of the DMZ tourism cooperation between South and North Korea for peaceful reunification, which is a focus of the tourist questionnaire in Appendix C. Further opinions on the revision of the DMZ tourism development as well as the questionnaire design were obtained through the discussions. The data collection period stretched from May 2002 until June 2002 to avoid the potential impact of seasonality on the findings. All questionnaires were distributed within the vicinity of the DMZ areas. The substance of this empirical research was a sample of 151 responses from the domestic tourist side and 151 responses from the international tourist side. The patterns of divided nation tourism were systematically compared and analysed through both qualitative and quantitative methods. It was found that domestic tourists in the DMZ area differ from international tourists in some aspects, such as socio-demographic profiles, motivations, temporal and spatial patterns. It is recognized that the DMZ area has some very unique characteristics that might influence tourists. The findings of the research show that tourism cooperation in the DMZ areas of South and North Korea strongly depends on the peace and political environment. Unquestionably, the perceptions and attitudes of domestic and international tourist played an important role in the DMZ areas for the research. In this study, the theoretical context of the relationship between tourism and peace was examined with its practical implication in the DMZ area. The literature demonstrates that political stability and peace may affect tourists' destination images. The general findings demonstrate that the subjects of the study view the implication of peace on tourism favourably. This belief was further supported by the positive attitudes and perceptions held by international and domestic tourists towards peace and cooperation. It was noticed from the results of the questionnaires that in general, there is a favourable opinion on the relationship between tourism and peace, the degree to which the two Koreas peace process and even reunification has contributed, and continues to contribute to the development of tourism in the DMZ area.