Korea Tourism Association Central Council: "Inbound Expansion and Risk Management Must Go Hand in Hand"
Calls for an Industrial Safety Net to Guard Against External Shocks
At the 11th National Tourism Strategy Meeting held on the 25th, the Korea Tourism Association Central Council welcomed the government's newly presented strategies of a "Great Transformation of Inbound Tourism" and a "Great Leap Forward in Regional Tourism."
President Lee Jaemyung is speaking at the Enlarged National Tourism Strategy Meeting held at the Blue House on the 25th. Yonhap News
The Central Council noted that it was highly meaningful that the President personally attended the National Tourism Strategy Meeting for the first time in seven years, assessing this as a significant signal that tourism has been reaffirmed as a core pillar of the national growth strategy. In particular, it expressed the hope that, now that the National Tourism Strategy Meeting has been elevated to one chaired by the President, this will lead to strengthened implementation across the entire government.
The Council also viewed as timely the government's direction of fostering local airports as hubs for inbound tourism and working to expand the number of foreign tourists by enhancing the competitiveness of accommodation and tourism content and alleviating inconveniences for visitors.
The Central Council stressed that only when there is a shift in the tourism ecosystem from a structure centered on the Seoul metropolitan area to one in which the regions become the core drivers of growth can the "era of 30 million tourists" be realized.
However, the Council pointed out that, alongside the pursuit of growth strategies, the establishment of an institutional safety net to prepare for external shocks must proceed in parallel. It explained that tourism is one of the industries most sensitive to external variables such as infectious diseases, diplomacy and security issues, and the climate crisis, and that the industry must not repeat the experience during COVID-19, when delayed refunds and liquidity crises led to a rapid contraction of the tourism ecosystem.
Accordingly, the Central Council urged the institutionalization of a permanent crisis response system and a preemptive industrial safety net that would cover the tourism industry as a whole. It stated that protective mechanisms for the industry, including emergency operating fund support, a system for advance payment of refunds, and support for maintaining employment, need to be designed in advance at the national level.
A representative of the Korea Tourism Association Central Council said, "The 'great transformation of tourism' can be achieved only when aggressive inbound attraction strategies and preemptive risk management operate simultaneously," adding, "In line with the government's strategic support, the industry will also work to enhance international trust by strengthening price transparency and innovating service quality."
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