The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 23rd that, together with the Korea Tourism Organization, it has conducted the 16th Tourism Venture Business Contest and selected 140 businesses to receive support.
The Tourism Venture Business Contest is a program aimed at fostering venture companies with creative ideas in the tourism sector. Since launching the contest in 2011, the Ministry and the Korea Tourism Organization have discovered and supported more than 1,700 outstanding tourism venture companies. This year’s contest saw a higher competition rate than previous years, with 1,112 applications submitted across three categories: prospective tourism ventures (pre-founders), early-stage tourism ventures (businesses established for three years or less), and growth-stage tourism ventures (businesses established for more than three years but less than seven years). The Ministry added that, following document screening, presentations, and on-site evaluations, 30 prospective tourism ventures, 70 early-stage tourism ventures, and 40 growth-stage tourism ventures were ultimately selected.
As in the previous year, many technology-based venture companies were selected this year as well. Companies that received high evaluations included Thehysik, which provides automation operation technology for accommodation businesses based on Software as a Service (SaaS), and Bendit, an artificial intelligence-based automated operation system for optimizing room sales in the accommodation sector.
Hyper-personalized travel services that provide customized offerings through artificial intelligence (AI) and data analysis also drew attention. Selected companies include ICUCompany, which offers AI-based customized travel support services for Muslim visitors to Korea; Woojupet, an AI-based pet care connection platform that enables travel without worrying about pets; and Oka, which provides travel destination filming services using AI-powered autonomous drones.
Convergence tourism businesses that combine tourism with other fields, such as region-based experiential tourism and medical tourism, also stood out. Notable examples include LocknRun, which operates the Jangsu Trail Race, an experiential running tourism program in Jangsu-gun; POC, a region-based experiential sports tourism business; RNOne, which operates Fairplay, an outdoor travel platform for hiking and walking; and Jumaltory, a weekend leisure recommendation service for customized experiential tourism. Medical tourism support products were also selected, such as WelltripKorea, which operates concierge services for egg freezing guidance for foreign women, and CloudHospital, a global medical tourism platform for attracting and managing overseas patients.
The Ministry will provide the selected tourism venture companies with up to 100 million won in commercialization support funds, as well as tailored business consulting, education, investment attraction opportunities, and industry networking. Selected companies will also be eligible to participate in open innovation programs run by major tourism companies such as Yanolja, Expedia, and Trip.com. Companies selected as growth-stage tourism ventures will receive a certificate issued in the name of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The results of this contest can be found on the Tourarzz, the Korea Tourism Industry Portal.
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