SCENES of the Cotswold countryside have always been popular with tourists.

But the picturesque villages and rolling fields are now attracting visitors from a new location – South Korea.

Tourism chiefs say the area has become a top destination for South East Asia with a mass of magazine articles and television shows advertising the English destination to the overseas market.

For the last 10 years, Cotswold Tourism, a partnership between GFirst and the district councils, have been promoting the area in Japan.

The chocolate box cottages and heritage sites have made the area a big name in the Asian country.

But now Chinese and South Koreans are coming to stay as well.

The tourism organisation, which also covers Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, Stroud and Gloucester, runs a campaign called the Cotswolds Japan Partnership.

Around 50,000 Japanese visitors come to the Cotswolds every year. For some hotels, the Japanese market has overtaken the US market.

This huge success has led Cotswold Tourism to plan the launch of its Asia campaign, which will target holiday-makers in China and Korea as well.

And staff have pulled out all the stops to keep the booming tourist trade in full flow.

Last year, Korea's biggest selling daily newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, ran a two-page spread on the Cotswolds and its attractions.

Cotswold Tourism also welcomed a film crew from China who captured the highlights of the county for a 3D channel.

And the Cotswold Way National Trail has teamed up with South Korea's Jeju Olle to become one of the world's first "friendship trails".

Chris Dee, from GFirst, said they have created a Japanese language website as well as running cultural awareness courses for local tourism businesses.

He said: "A few years ago it became clear that China was set to be one of the growth markets for tourism.

"We're told that we are now second only to London in terms of enquiries to VisitBritain in Tokyo."

Julie Wood, tourism officer for Tewkesbury Borough Council, said the tourist industry in the Cotswolds is booming in the new emerging markets.

She said: "We are focusing on BRIC, which stands for the new emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

"We have developed a Chinese logo and a blog in the language. We have been running a Japanese tourism campaign for a while and another market we are moving into is Korea."