South Korea has been selected as the host country for the "T-20" forum, a meeting of tourism ministers from the G20 member countries, the culture ministry said Thursday.

The second T-20 forum will take place before November's G20 summit in Seoul, as South Korea was picked as the host at the inaugural meeting of the tourism conference in South Africa that was held from Monday through Wednesday, according to the ministry.

However, details on the exact dates and venue of the forum will be announced at a later date, it said.

The ministry added the hosting of the conference would lead to attracting more groups of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (the MICE group) to hold events in South Korea, as the country is also slated to have a meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) next year.

The launch of the T-20 forum was first announced at the meeting of the UNWTO last year to emphasize the importance of tourism's role in boosting global economic growth.

The UNWTO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues with more than 390 members from 161 countries and territories.

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2010)