[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 30th that they have selected Yangyang-gun, Suwon-si, and Gyeongju-si as the final candidate sites for the second round of the ‘2021 Smart Tourism City Development Project’ following last year.
The 2021 Smart Tourism City Development Project is a program implemented in response to the increased demand for non-face-to-face tourism services due to COVID-19 and the trend of digital transformation in the tourism industry. It aims to strengthen tourism content tailored to regional characteristics through the convergence of tourism and information and communication technology, provide customized tourism services to enhance tourist convenience, and continuously improve and develop tourism content and infrastructure by utilizing accumulated information.
In this competition, 28 local governments formed consortia with private companies and universities to apply. The total number of participating private companies reached 163. The Korea Tourism Organization selected three candidate sites through written and presentation evaluations based on criteria such as the suitability, feasibility, and sustainability of the project plan, as well as the local governments’ willingness to promote the project.
Yangyang-gun plans to create a smart tourism city centered on Surf Beach called ‘Smart Surf City Yangyang,’ Suwon-si aims to develop ‘Time Slip, 1795 Suwon Hwaseong’ centered on Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, and Gyeongju-si intends to implement ‘Smart Scene Tourism City Gyeongju’ focused on Hwangridan-gil. Each candidate site will receive 100 million KRW in support to establish detailed project plans from April to May, including a roadmap for building a smart tourism city, detailed plans for smart tourism services, plans for creating converged tourism content, and standardization plans for data sharing.
In June, based on the project plans established by the three candidates, a final site will be selected through written evaluations and on-site demonstration evaluations of service scenarios. The final selected local government will receive 3.5 billion KRW in national funding and will jointly develop the smart tourism city with the Korea Tourism Organization through local government matching funds (at least 1:1 ratio).
Kim Gwongi, head of the Smart Tourism Business Team at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, “Interest and enthusiasm for smart tourism cities were strong, with a 33% increase in local government participation compared to last year. We will strive to provide smart tourism services to tourists through the creation of smart tourism cities, support the growth of private companies possessing smart tourism technologies, and revitalize local tourism by utilizing data-based customized tourism information.”
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