[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 15th that it has finally selected ‘Suwon-si, Gyeonggi Province’ as the target site for the ‘2021 Smart Tourism City Development Project.’
The Smart Tourism City Development Project was promoted to establish a foundation that can provide competitive and convenient tourism services by applying advanced information and communication technology to the tourism sector, thereby increasing travelers’ satisfaction. Local governments and private companies participate in the form of alliances to foster a technology-based tourism industry through public-private cooperation, enhancing the convenience and satisfaction of tourists and boosting regional tourism competitiveness.
Tourists visiting smart tourism cities can experience personalized tourism services integrated with technology throughout all processes, from deciding the destination before the trip to activities during the trip and post-tour activities.
An evaluation committee composed of seven private experts comprehensively considered the concreteness, feasibility, attractiveness, and suitability of the detailed project plans established by the three candidate sites selected through the first evaluation in March, ultimately selecting Suwon as the final target site.
Suwon will create the ‘Suwon Hwaseong Tourist Special Zone’ as an area concentrated with smart tourism elements under the theme of ‘Implementing a Smart Trip to an 18th Century Joseon New City.’ In particular, the project plan was established considering the characteristics of the World Heritage site, which must not be physically damaged, and the regional tourism win-win model of Seongnam Village. Going forward, a total project cost of 7 billion KRW, including 3.5 billion KRW in national funds and city and private investments, will be invested to provide ▲ experiential content that implements the unopened and unrestored sites of Suwon Hwaseong through virtual and augmented reality ▲ location-based surrounding tourism information and augmented reality navigation ▲ integrated transportation information and real-time parking guidance to enable seamless tourism movement ▲ non-face-to-face reservation, pre-order, and payment services for local commercial franchise stores.
Along with Suwon, which was finally selected this year, Daegu and Jeollanam-do, which were previously selected as part of the Korea Tourism Total Platform (KTTP), are also scheduled to be developed as smart tourism cities.
Additionally, ‘Incheon,’ selected last year as a pilot site for the smart tourism city project, is scheduled to open in July, targeting the Wolmi Open Port area. Tourists visiting this area can experience ▲ historical and cultural content of the open port enjoyed through augmented and virtual reality ▲ non-face-to-face easy payment ▲ pre-order (smart order) before visiting ▲ one-time tax refund ▲ AI-based personalized destination recommendation services through the ‘Incheon E(e)zi’ app.
A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official stated, “We will continue to advance services in cooperation with local governments and private companies to enhance the convenience and satisfaction of tourists visiting smart tourism cities,” adding, “Through this, we plan to establish a virtuous cycle system that analyzes the generated and accumulated tourism type information so that the tourism content and services of the respective regions can be developed.”
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