SEOUL – The South Korean government has chosen five cities as new tourism hubs in an effort to spread the tourism revenue beyond capital Seoul.
Those cities could receive more than 70 billion won depending on their business plans,– Jo Hyun-rae, director general of the Tourism Industry Policy Bureau
Korea’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Minister Park Yang-woo said on Jan 28 that the government needs to develop new regional tourism hubs to attract more foreign tourists, since about 80% of foreign tourists visit only Seoul when they visit Korea.
Busan has been chosen as an international tourism city while the four cities have been picked as regional tourism hubs.
The government will inject a total of 15.9 billion won (US$13.5 million) for the project this year: Busan will receive 4.3 billion won while four other cities will get 2.15 billion won each. The remaining 3 billion won will be used for promotion and consulting.
Each city will receive 50 billion won for five years until 2024.
“Those cities could receive more than 70 billion won depending on their business plans,” said Jo Hyun-rae, director general of the Tourism Industry Policy Bureau under the ministry.