Originally Posted by
travelinmanS
If Korea gets it's own forum why should any other small country not get it's own forum. South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Taiwan. All of these places merit a forum IMHO before Korea. Korea is a nice country but hardly a tourist mecca.
According to the US census, in 2011, trade between US and South Korea resulted:
US-South Korea
$43 billion Export and $57 billion Import.
Compared to:
Vietnam - $4 bil export / 18 bil import
Malaysia - 14 bil export / 26 bil import
Indonesia - 7 bil export / 19 bil import
We aren't just talking about leisure travel here. US and South Korea trade alone gives special status to the importance of business travel. Leisure travel is just icing on the cake as some others have said.
There is a reason why airlines cater to non-stop between North American cities (LAX, SFO, LAS, SEA, DFW, ORD, JFK, ATL, HNL, YYZ, YVR) and Seoul (ICN) because there is demand for travel for passengers and cargo being exchanged.