South Korea Offers to Pay Tourists Who Contract Swine Flu

South Korea has a new twist on swine flu: if you get, you also get paid! I know, it seems ridiculous, but it's their big "tourism promotion" for 2009.

See, the H1N1 New Strain Influenza Cash Relief Program is designed to keep tourism alive in South Korea and remind people that even if you contract a possibly deadly (who knows, right?) or possibly harmless version of the flu, you can still get straight paid.

Well, kind of -- they're offering NT $100,000 to any tourist who contracts the swine flu while traveling in South Korea. The good news? It's money! The bad news? It's only $3,000 American.

But as we discussed in the PTG corporate headquarters, it's not like getting the swine flu is going to kill you or anything*. Or, at least, it probably won't. And if you contract it in South Korea, you're getting three grand for your troubles.

Additionally, after July 1, if you fly on Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, China Airlines, Eva Airways or TransAsia Airways and contract H1N1, you're getting three Grrr as well.

This is, of course, the first ever program of its kind: no tourism board as ever offered money for contracting a virus. And it probably would have made our list of "viral" marketing schemes for 2009 if it had been announced this week, because even as big of a pessimistic gamble as the whole thing seems, it's still pretty fascinating and at least worth getting some love by the media.

Also, the economy's down and money is nice, no?

*Please note we may not be considered licensed physicians in the United States.

67 Days of Smiles: Orlando Presents Free Money to Do Nothing

Queensland, Australia already made international news with the "Best Job in the World" promotion. Now, Orlando, Florida is trying to follow suit with their "67 Days of Smiles" promotion, which is going to pay two lucky people $25,000 to hang out for three months and ride amusement park rides.

No, it's not as long or as tropical as the BJITW, but it's still pretty sweet.

Work and play are one-and-the-same! The selected pair will experience everything from roller coaster riding to hang gliding, swimming with dolphins, golfing, shopping, spa-ing, gator wrestling, museum exploring, theatre-going and more.

The catch? There isn't one! No, there's not really. All that's required is that you "pick a partner," (bf, gf, brother, random homeless person, whatever) and create a 1-minute video which somehow explains why you're qualified to run around Orlando and have fun. Then you take pictures of your smiles (which might make the random homeless dude a bad choice) and apply online.

Orlando's Tourism board asks about a "blog, Facebook, Friendfeed, Flickr, Linkedin, Myspace, Twitter and YouTube" so it's pretty obvious that they want someone with tons of social media experience and an ability to spread the word VIRALLY (it's so buzzy and hip!) about Orlando's fantastic attractions.

Of course, that doesn't make it less awesome that you get to smile for a camera over the next 67 days, or generally hang out and ride rollercoasters while getting paid 25k for it, but it does mean that if you can figure out what Orlando's trying to do here -- and I believe I just told you, right?? -- that you stand a much better chance of making yourself an attractive candidate for the gig.

Via Walletpop: