'Pushing for 30 Million Foreign Tourists' National Tourism Strategy Meeting to Be Held Again After 5 Months

Breaking the Once-a-Year Tradition: Second Meeting in Eight Months Planned for February
Speculation Grows Over President Chairing the Meeting
Rising Global Interest in K-Culture, Weak Won Seen as Opportunities
Urgent Need for Strategic Response Highlighted

The National Tourism Strategy Meeting will be held again after five months. Traditionally convened once a year, this top decision-making body in the tourism sector will meet for the second time in just eight months since the inauguration of the Lee Jaemyung administration. This reflects the administration's strong commitment to fostering tourism as a future strategic industry.

According to the tourism industry on January 27, the government and related organizations in the tourism sector are preparing to hold the National Tourism Strategy Meeting at the end of February. The specific date and location have not yet been finalized.

This will be the second National Tourism Strategy Meeting since the launch of the Lee Jaemyung administration. The government held the 10th meeting on September 25 last year, just over 100 days after taking office.

Prime Minister Minseok Kim is presiding over the 10th National Tourism Strategy Meeting held at the Korea Tourism Organization Seoul Center in Jung-gu, Seoul on September 25 last year.
Photo by Yonhap News

Since its inception in 2017, the National Tourism Strategy Meeting has typically been held once a year at the end of the year. The Lee Jaemyung administration moved up the meeting to September last year and is advancing it further to February this year. Given that the meeting is being held early in the year, there is speculation that an additional meeting could take place within the year. The only precedent for holding the meeting twice in one year was in 2019.

Within the tourism industry, there is a growing call for a strategic response at the government level, as the environment surrounding the tourism industry is changing rapidly. Global interest in K-culture continues, and the weak Korean won has improved conditions for attracting foreign tourists. In addition, as relations between China and Japan have entered a cooling phase, there are expectations that Korea could benefit as a result. The tourism industry views this as a golden opportunity to foster the tourism sector.

Attention is focused on how President Lee Jaemyung will participate in the upcoming strategy meeting. The National Tourism Strategy Meeting is chaired by the Prime Minister. To date, the only strategy meeting attended by a president was the third "expanded" National Tourism Strategy Meeting held at Gyeongwonjae in Songdo, Incheon, in April 2019. At that time, President Moon Jae-in attended, but as usual, the meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon.

There is also speculation that President Lee Jaemyung may directly preside over the February meeting. At a ministry work report in December last year, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young raised the need for the president to chair the National Tourism Strategy Meeting, emphasizing the importance of enhancing its status and function. During the work report, it was also mentioned that elevating the chairmanship from the Prime Minister to the President is a long-held wish of everyone in the tourism industry. A related bill has already been submitted to the National Assembly.

President Lee Jaemyung also cited the example of the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who personally oversaw tourism policy and significantly increased the number of foreign tourists, stressing the need for a strategic approach at the national level.

Japan began to intensively foster its tourism industry at the national level in 2013 as part of the Abenomics growth strategy. In 2013, Korea had more foreign tourists than Japan, but the situation has since reversed, with the gap widening significantly. Japan reached 30 million foreign tourists for the first time in 2018 and attracted 36.87 million in 2024. Although Korea recorded its highest-ever number of foreign tourists last year, the figure was only 19 million-half that of Japan. The Lee Jaemyung administration has set the goal of attracting 30 million foreign tourists by 2030 as an international objective and is quietly aiming to achieve this ahead of schedule.

The tourism industry is a convergent service sector that requires cross-ministerial cooperation. Since the launch of the National Tourism Strategy Meeting in 2017, 13 ministries, including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, have participated. If the president directly presides over the meeting, there are expectations that policy coordination and implementation will be further strengthened.