The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism building at Sejong Government Complex / Courtesy of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport jointly launched a series of forums on Tuesday, with the aim of using regional airports as entry points to attract international tourists beyond the Seoul metropolitan area.
The first forum, held at Daegu City Hall, brought together officials from ministries, local governments, the Korea Tourism Organization, Korea Airports Corporation, Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, airlines and the travel industry to identify concrete collaboration measures for each airport zone.
The forum series is part of the government's regional inbound tourism hub initiative, announced in February at a national tourism strategy conference chaired by President Lee Jae Myung. Additional forums are planned for Gimhae in May and Cheongju in June. The two ministries will also jointly establish a tourism and aviation policy council in the second half of the year to coordinate measures and manage ongoing issues.
The forums are designed to assess need for cooperation across five areas: airport infrastructure such as slot allocation and passenger services; regional accommodation and ground transportation; local tourism content, including attractions, dining and activities; marketing and product development; and industry pain points.
"Regional airports are the most effective gateway for channeling foreign tourists into the provinces," a culture ministry official said.
"We will build a public-private partnership framework to increase international arrivals through regional airports and find ways to extend visitor stays and boost spending."
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
Source: Korea Times News
