Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo is announcing the 'Measures to Revitalize the Domestic Market Alongside K-Quarantine' and the 'Plan to Promote Regulatory Innovation in the Tourism Industry' at the Government Seoul Office on the 26th. [Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The government will support accommodation discount coupons that can be used for domestic travel. Benefits include a 30% discount when prepaying for travel products at some tourist sites, including amusement parks nationwide. An event has also been prepared to give out National Tourism Gift Certificates through a lottery for those who visit domestic tourist attractions and stay overnight. This is intended to boost travel sentiment, which has been dampened by the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), and to help the tourism industry in crisis.
On the 26th at 2 p.m., the government held the '5th National Tourism Strategy Meeting' chaired by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun at the Government Seoul Office to discuss measures to revitalize the domestic tourism market, including these contents.
◆ Accommodation discount coupons provided to 1 million people= First, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and related ministries decided to provide accommodation discount coupons usable on domestic online sites only for reservations made in September and October. For accommodations under 70,000 KRW, a 30,000 KRW discount is available, and for accommodations over 70,000 KRW, a 40,000 KRW discount applies. One coupon per person is limited, and coupons will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis until a total of 1 million coupons are exhausted. The government will support 20,000 to 30,000 KRW, and local governments and participating businesses will share about 10% of the discount cost.
A 30% discount benefit will also be provided for prepayment of domestic travel products for a total of 150,000 people. The government supports 20%, and the private sector and local governments support the remaining 10%. Discounted travel products will be selected through a public contest and target 16 metropolitan local governments excluding Jeju. Considering the COVID-19 situation, flexible refund and change processing will be allowed even if pre-purchasers cancel the contract before the trip departure. The contract will also include a clause for 100% refund if travel becomes impossible due to an infectious disease outbreak.
From July, a maximum 60% discount benefit will be provided for 30,000 people when purchasing admission tickets or all-day passes to amusement facilities. There will also be an event selling tourism venture company products located in the region at a 40% discount off the regular price, limited to 5,000 people. In addition, products from 50 selected healing tourism sites will be discounted up to 50,000 KRW, and if visitors certify that they visited local tourist attractions and stayed nearby, a total of 120,000 people will be given 50,000 KRW National Tourism Gift Certificates through a lottery. When participating in the Coastal Nuri-gil walking program, a regional gift certificate worth 200,000 KRW will be provided per family.
◆ Travel week extended from 2 weeks to 1 month= To encourage domestic travel, the annual travel week will be extended from the existing 2 weeks to one month this year, from June 20 to July 19. In cooperation with Korea Railroad Corporation, express bus operators, and shipping companies, exclusive transportation tickets available only during travel week at discounted prices will be launched, and special programs such as 'Camping for 10,000 KRW' will be held. The worker vacation support project, which recruited 120,000 people this year, will also prepare 50% special discount products on a dedicated site to encourage workers to prepay and use up their accumulated funds early.
However, the government’s position is that these attempts to stimulate domestic travel demand must be carried out while strictly adhering to quarantine rules to prevent COVID-19. Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo emphasized, "In a situation where COVID-19 has not ended, it is most important for all travelers and business owners to strictly follow basic quarantine rules and spread a safe travel culture."
◆ Improvement of hotel industry classification system and revision of registration standards= At the meeting, plans to ease related regulations to support the domestic tourism industry and promote regulatory innovation to support private sector growth were also discussed. They decided to improve the hotel industry classification system and consider lowering entry barriers for sectors where visitors can enjoy quiet and natural environments, such as campgrounds, forest recreation tourism, and rural homestays.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will first improve the hotel industry classification system and revise registration standards. The current seven types?tourist hotels, water tourism hotels, family hotels, medical tourism hotels, small hotels, Korean traditional hotels, and hostels?will be consolidated into two types: tourist hotels and Korean traditional hotels.
The detailed hotel industry categories have become ambiguous due to the establishment of new accommodation facility demands, and each registration standard differs, which has been perceived as unnecessary regulation by business operators.
The hotel industry registration standards will also be revised to include ▲ relaxation of the number of rooms required for tourist hotels (from 30 rooms to 20 rooms) ▲ relaxation of ancillary facility standards for small hotels (requiring two or more ancillary facilities, with area limits) ▲ deletion of foreigner service provision regulations.
◆ Review of shared accommodation and forest recreation tourism= The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is also reviewing institutionalization measures to allow urban homestays, which were previously permitted only for foreigners, to be used by both domestic and foreign customers, enabling shared accommodation business models like 'Airbnb' to take root in Korea.
To ensure this plan does not hinder the growth of existing accommodation industries such as hotels and promotes coexistence, a 'coexistence consultative body' will be operated to gather opinions from various sectors and develop improvement plans. In mountainous areas, a special law designating special zones to allow operation of mountain hotels, as seen in Switzerland and other countries, will also be considered.
Yeongwol Glamping Site
◆ Deregulation of transfer and assignment of camping industry and rural homestay businesses= Regulations on the popular camping and other camping industries will also be eased. With the revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Tourism Promotion Act, since the 28th of last month, an exception clause has been applied to the floor area ratio restriction standard, which was an obstacle to using closed schools as campgrounds, laying the foundation for 554 closed schools to be transformed into campgrounds. Additionally, a regulatory special case will be pilot-operated to allow glamping facilities, which could only be made with tents for safety reasons, to be made with various materials.
Since the introduction of the scale restriction regulation for rural homestays in 2005 (currently under 230㎡), it has been impossible to newly register homestay businesses exceeding the facility size that had been operating before. The government plans to improve this by allowing new registration and operation for transferees of legally reported businesses before the introduction of the restriction regulation.
Furthermore, the capital registration standard for general travel agencies will be lowered from the current 100 million KRW to 50 million KRW to make it easier to start a business with just an idea.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and related ministries promised, "We will continue to identify and improve unnecessary regulations to support the tourism industry, which is struggling due to COVID-19, to grow again."
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