This year’s tourism budget, with the goal of ‘attracting 20 million tourists to Korea’, was confirmed at 1.3115 trillion won.
This is an increase of KRW 81.4 billion, or 6.6%, compared to last year, and is more than twice higher than the average growth rate of government expenditure of 2.8%.
Minister of Culture and Sports Yoo In-chon said, “We have significantly expanded the budget for the tourism sector to attract 20 million foreign tourists and help the tourism industry achieve its best performance ever.”
He also said, “Continuing from last year, we will continue to hold large-scale ‘Visit Korea Year’ events this year and will not spare any support to help Korean tourism take a leap forward by discovering competitive K-tourism contents.”
Continuing from last year, the ‘2023-2024 Visit Korea Year’ event (17.8 billion won, 7.8 billion won ↑ from the previous year) will be held this year.
In Korea, various events are held throughout the year, including the ‘Korea Grand Sale’ (January-February), the ‘Korea Beauty Festival’ (June), and the ‘Large Korean Wave Festival (September)’.
Overseas, the ‘K-Tourism Mega Road Show’ (KRW 7.6 billion, ↑ KRW 3 billion) will be held in 25 major cities to convert the global Korean Wave fever into demand for Korean tourism.
Korea Tourism Organization will establish Korean tourism promotion branches (KRW 4 billion, new) in 10 countries, including Saudi Arabia and Brazil, where there are no overseas branches. Through this, we will explore new markets by discovering customized tourism topics and establishing local exchange networks.
A new K-Tourism/Culture Zone has been created at Incheon Airport (KRW 3 billion, new) to promote famous attractions and major events everywhere through realistic content to foreigners visiting Korea. A new project is also being promoted to discover hidden tourist resources and produce and distribute promotional materials through interesting short-form videos (KRW 250 million, new).
◆Selection of global festivals and expansion of tourist courses by theme
K-tourism contents are also actively fostered. Beyond local festivals, select and foster ‘global festivals’ that people from all over the world can enjoy together (KRW 2.5 billion, new).
The ‘Korea Dulle-gil’, which completed construction of all sections last year, is being developed into a world-class tourist attraction. A new ‘Korea Dulegil Global Branding Project’ (KRW 1.3 billion) is being promoted to develop customized content through exchange and promotion with famous overseas trails. We will develop new courses for walking tours, expand the guidance system, and promote stamp tours.
We will revitalize Korean Wave tourism using K-contents such as dramas (KRW 11 billion, up KRW 3 billion) and sports tourism incorporating K-sports (KRW 3.9 billion, up KRW 2.3 billion). We will provide support (KRW 12.5 billion) to take advantage of world-class medical care and the K-beauty craze to dominate the ‘healing tourism’ market, which has recently attracted attention.
By expanding convention development projects and support for attracting and hosting international conferences, we will support the resurgence of high value-added K-MICE (corporate meetings, reward tourism, international conferences, and events) (KRW 30.4 billion).
Thematic tourist courses linking history, culture, and tourist resources near the Blue House will expand from 10 last year to 20 this year. Exhibition and performance programs and rest and convenience facilities will also be expanded. The ‘Storytelling Tourism Resources Project (KRW 200 million)’, which tells interesting stories about little-known tourist resources, is also being promoted.
◆Support for new digital tourism resident card business and regional development projects in the southern region
In order to improve the problem of domestic and foreign tourists being concentrated in only a few regions, stay-based regional tourism will be revitalized.
The digital tourism resident card project (KRW 3 billion), which provides discount benefits, will be converted from a pilot project to a new project. Expand the work business, which combines work and vacation, which has emerged as a new tourism trend (1.9 billion won, 1.7 billion won ↑).
By creating a ‘night tourism specialized city’ equipped with content, scenic attractions, and tourism conditions (KRW 4.8 billion, ↑ KRW 1.1 billion), we will further spread regional stay-type travel that encourages people to stay and stay in the region for an extra day.
We support the discovery and development of regionally driven tourism content, such as the southern region tourism development project (KRW 27.8 billion, ↑ KRW 22.3 billion), which will begin in earnest this year. We will also strengthen regional balanced tourism development projects that discover and foster regional resources with unique charm, such as revitalizing island tourism (KRW 5.2 billion).
Improvement of local tourism service quality (KRW 1.6 billion, new) is also being promoted. We take the lead in improving the quality of tourism services such as accommodation, transportation, and food by operating a joint inspection team with public participation targeting major tourist destinations. The ‘Fair Prosperity Center’ was established to receive cases of unfair trade in the travel industry and provide legal advice. Self-reliance efforts are also being made to continuously check the on-site situation through cooperation between the public and private sectors.
◆Expansion of open tourist destinations
In line with the government’s ‘friendly approach to the weak’, the budget for open tourist destinations (KRW 10.7 billion, ↑ KRW 2.5 billion) and barrier-free tourist cities (KRW 2.5 billion, ↑ KRW 1 billion) for the underprivileged has been increased.
The designation of new open tourist sites will be greatly expanded from 20 per year to 30 per year. One additional barrier-free tourist city that solves transportation and accommodation problems will be selected to allow anyone to travel without restrictions.
◆Voucher support for tourism companies
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism significantly expanded the tourism fund loan project to 636.5 billion won to promote investment in tourism facilities and support management.
Tourism fund loans are operated at KRW 536.5 billion, an increase of KRW 90 billion from the previous year. Separately, the budget for the secondary conservation project, which was implemented as a pilot project in the second half of last year, will be increased (5.2 billion won, ↑ 2.6 billion won) to a total of 100 billion won.
A new ‘Small and Medium Travel Agency Travel Product Distribution Support Project’ (KRW 400 million) will be promoted to support entry into online distribution channels and security certification procedures to help small and medium-sized travel agencies lacking distribution channels secure their own survival.
In order to strengthen the foundation for future growth and the accelerated digital transformation of the tourism industry after COVID-19, support for start-ups and customized support for each stage of growth of tourism ventures will be strengthened. The ‘Tourism Company Innovation Voucher Support Project’ (KRW 6.3 billion), which assists tourism companies’ digital innovation activities, will also be expanded. In addition, we will support nurturing future tourism talent in response to the industry’s demand for digital manpower (KRW 15.8 billion).
One more Overseas Tourism Business Support Center, which was previously operated in two locations, including Singapore and Tokyo, was established (KRW 1.8 billion, ↑ KRW 700 million) to support the overseas expansion and growth of Korean tourism companies.
[출처] 대한민국 정책브리핑(www.korea.kr)
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