Korea Tourism Organization Supports Tourism Companies with 5 Billion KRW Innovation Vouchers

147 Tourism Companies, Worth 5.04 Billion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Korea Tourism Organization will provide innovation vouchers worth a total of 5.04 billion KRW to 147 tourism companies.

Korea Tourism Organization 'Tourism Organization Innovation Voucher Support Project'.
[Photo by Korea Tourism Organization]

On the 20th, the organization announced that it will carry out the "2023 Tourism Company Innovation Voucher Support Project," led by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization, to help small and medium tourism companies quickly respond to environmental changes and achieve future growth after COVID-19.

Since 2020, this project has provided services tailored to the needs of tourism companies in the form of vouchers, connecting beneficiary companies and service providers through the introduction of new technologies, digital transformation, and innovative product planning.

This year, 147 companies will be selected, including 15 companies for the "Large Voucher" (100 million KRW), 30 companies for the "Medium Voucher" (50 million KRW), and 102 companies for the "Small Voucher" (20 million KRW).

Voucher points can be used for various professional service tasks such as introducing smart reservation and payment systems, building chatbot customer response systems, improving webpage accessibility (UX/UI) for user convenience, and promoting tourism products using live commerce. The services are composed of 6 programs in 3 fields and 8 types of tourism innovation voucher services. Large and medium vouchers can select up to 3 services per company, while small vouchers can select up to 2 services.

The application period for beneficiary companies is from the 20th to the 10th of next month. Any company operating a tourism-related business under the Small and Medium Enterprise Basic Act can participate. Beneficiary companies will be selected through expert evaluations on innovation potential, growth potential, and excellence in voucher utilization plans, with announcements scheduled for the end of next month.

Service providers will be recruited until the 28th. Companies capable of providing services corresponding to the voucher types are eligible. After document screening on service quality adequacy and stability, companies scoring 60 points or higher will be finally selected as service providers.

Applications are made online through the Innovation Voucher Project website. Detailed information can be found on the Innovation Voucher Project website and the Korea Tourism Organization website under announcements and recruitment sections.

This project is operated by advancing the recruitment schedule by about a month compared to the previous year to ensure selected companies have sufficient project periods. Selected companies will receive effective project operation support through 1:1 preliminary diagnosis by specialized advisory groups in each field. Additionally, by encouraging participation from traditional tourism companies such as accommodations, the project aims to discover and spread management innovation cases of infrastructure-based tourism businesses.

Kang Gyusang, head of the Tourism Company Development Team at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "This year, companies possessing new technologies such as travel tech will provide high-quality services to beneficiary companies," adding, "This project supports funds in the form of vouchers to execute projects that were in the planning stage, aiming to maximize the performance of participating companies."