Minister Park Yang-woo: "We Will Operate a Task Force to Foster Tourism Companies and Revise Systems"

Collecting Industry Opinions at On-Site Visits and Meetings with Tourism Ventures

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo is giving a greeting to tourism venture officials during his visit to Unique Good Company in Seongdong-gu, Seoul on the 29th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] On the 29th, Park Yang-woo, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, visited the tourism venture 'Unique Good Company' in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, to encourage the executives and employees, and held a meeting with representatives of eight tourism venture companies and Ahn Young-bae, President of the Korea Tourism Organization, to explore ways to foster tourism companies.

Minister Park said, "We plan to provide comprehensive support to companies on the front lines to surpass 20 million inbound tourists in 2020 and revitalize jobs through the development of the tourism industry," adding, "With the increase in domestic and international tourism demand and technological advancements, we expect the role and opportunities of tourism ventures equipped with creative business ideas and innovative entrepreneurial spirit to grow even more."

The tourism industry proposed expanding support programs to help create more 'unicorn companies' (unlisted companies valued at over 1 billion USD) in the tourism sector, rationalizing laws and systems to accommodate new business ideas in tourism sectors such as accommodation and amusement facilities, and creating a business-friendly investment environment. Minister Park promised to operate a task force (TF) and revise investment systems reflecting field opinions.

Separately, to help startup companies stabilize in the market, the scale of tourism venture support will be more than doubled from 3.4 billion KRW last year to 8.5 billion KRW, and support currently focused on prospective entrepreneurs and early-stage startups will be provided by stages: prospective, early (~3 years after founding), leap (~7 years after founding), and re-challenge. Additionally, 9.85 billion KRW will be invested in support projects for tourism SMEs in areas such as investment attraction, corporate innovation, and overseas expansion.

Bae In-ho, director of the Tourism Startup Association, said, "I hope a foundation will be established so that continuous interest and support for tourism ventures, as well as tourism startups, can soundly settle as members of the tourism industry."