Korea Tour Leader Briefing Pack: What to Hand Over

What goes in the pack

• The programme, day by day, with timings, meeting points and the hotel for each night — the version the ground team is working to, not the sales version.
• A contact sheet. The operations desk's 24-hour line, the guide's name and number, and each hotel's number. Drivers are usually reached through the guide or the desk, not directly.
• Hotel names and addresses in Korean script. A traveller who gets lost can show them to a taxi driver.
• The rooming list, with room types and the tour leader's own room, matching what the hotels hold.
• The emergency numbers: 112 for police and 119 for fire and ambulance, both with interpretation; 1330 for the Korea Tourism Organization's Travel Hotline (+82-2-1330 from abroad); 1345 for immigration questions.
• Copies of passport photo pages and insurance details, kept separately from the passports.
• Dietary and medical notes, handled as confidential and shared only with the people who need them.

The handover call before departure

A short call a few days before the group flies saves more on the ground than any document. It is where the tour leader hears who will meet them, what the arrival looks like, and whom to call at two in the morning.

• Arrival: where the guide waits, what the sign says, and what happens if the flight is late.
• The first day: hotel check-in timing, and what the group does if rooms are not ready.
• Known pressure points: a long transfer, an early start, a venue with dress rules.
• Who to call for what: the guide during the day, the operations desk at any hour.

Who decides what on the ground

• Safety decisions are made on the spot by the guide and the operations desk, and explained afterwards. Nobody waits for approval to call an ambulance.
• Changes that cost money need the agent. An extra meal, a longer coach day, an added entrance — agree in advance who can approve them and up to what amount, so the tour leader is not negotiating with a client and a supplier at once.
• Order changes within the day can usually be agreed between the tour leader and the guide, as long as nothing is dropped and no booking moves.
• Anything that affects a booking — a restaurant, a timed entry, a train — goes through the operations desk, because it holds the reservation.

The gaps that cause most of the trouble

• A group-size change that never reached the ground team, discovered at the coach door.
• A tour leader without a working phone in Korea. Roaming or a local SIM or eSIM should be settled before departure, not at arrival.
• A last-day timing nobody checked against the flight and the hotel's check-out.
• Medical information held only by the agent at home, out of reach when it is needed.

Prepared with you before the group flies

Explera DMC Korea prepares the ground half of every briefing pack — the programme as operated, contacts, rooming, Korean-script addresses and the emergency sheet — and holds a handover call with the tour leader before departure. On the ground, licensed guides and a 24/7 operations desk on Korean ground time work to the same pack.

Send your dates, group size and tour leader's details to b2b@explera.kr or WhatsApp +66 93 656 8090. Explera DMC Korea is IATA TIDS-registered (96215733) and an ASTA member (#900408341); our KTO and KATA registrations are in application.

Where this fits in our Korea programmes

The pages below carry the operational detail behind this briefing.

• Services: Group travel & GIT in Korea · Guide services in Korea · 24/7 emergency support in Korea
• Destinations: Seoul · Busan · Jeju