The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Wednesday recognized 33 Korean travel agencies for attracting foreign tourists with quality services.

The travel agencies were selected by a jury consisting of tourism officials, consumer group officials and academics.

Out of the 33 travel agencies, 22 including HIS Korea, Mode Tour International, Lotte Tour and Hana Tour International were designated as “2011 Best Travel Agency Recommended by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea” for attracting a high number of foreign tourists and earning foreign currencies. Another eight companies were recognized for attracting many tourists from three regions ― two from China, three from Southeast Asia and three from America/Europe ― and the other three were honored for offering high quality services which was measured by dividing earned foreign currencies by the number of foreign tourists the company attracted from the three regions.

Culture Minister Choung Byoung-gug conferred the certificates to the heads of the 33 companies at the ministry’s building in Seoul on Wednesday.

The ministry said it will provide a 100 million won loan for each company’s tour business and the 33 companies can use the ministry-certified logo “2011 Best Travel Agency” when promoting their products for the next one year.

The 33 tour agencies will also receive up to 10 million won in support from the government for promotion and advertisement activities.

They will also given a priority in the selection of Korea tourism promoters overseas, the ministry said.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)