Seoul City Supports 200 Travel Agencies to Attract Foreign Tourists

Evaluation of Foreign Tourist Attraction Plans and Selection of Outstanding Companies
Up to 10 Million KRW Support for 200 Small Travel Agencies, Totaling 1.5 Billion KRW... Online Applications Open from the 24th

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] With the advent of the endemic era and the full-scale reopening of international tourism, demand for foreign tourists traveling to Korea is expected to increase, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government is supporting travel agencies' efforts to attract foreign tourists.

On the 24th, Seoul announced that it will evaluate the 'Seoul Inbound Tourist Attraction Plan' targeting small comprehensive travel agencies registered in the city and select a total of 200 companies for support. Selected companies will receive up to 6 million KRW to attract tourists, and based on the evaluation results, the top 60 excellent travel agencies will receive an additional support of up to 4 million KRW. The total support amount is approximately 1.5 billion KRW.

Starting from the 24th, Seoul plans to select companies to support. The payment of support funds will be made through a post-settlement method based on actual expenditures, covering costs such as training and education expenses for personnel operating the business, social insurance premiums, operational costs for safe travel (domestic PCR test costs for tourists, travel insurance, etc.), promotional and marketing expenses to attract foreign tourists, and OTA platform fees.

However, direct compensation for tourism product costs that induce low-cost or dumping tourism, capital expenses such as facility costs, repair costs, facility auxiliary costs, general operating expenses such as labor costs, rent, office equipment purchases, utility bills, expenses for general meetings or executive meetings, and other expenses not directly related to the business plan are not eligible for support.

Choi Kyung-joo, Director of the Seoul Tourism and Sports Bureau, said, “We hope that this ‘Seoul-type Inbound Travel Activation Support Project’ will be a small stepping stone for the inbound industry, which has endured difficult times, to prepare for the recovery of the tourism market with hope.” He added, “As this is an important time for tourism to resume, we will strive for innovation across the tourism ecosystem to not only attract more foreign tourists to Seoul but also achieve qualitative growth in Seoul tourism.”