Gyeonggi Tourism Organization to Prepare 'Special Measures' Against New Coronavirus

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has launched emergency measures as the number of tourists in the province sharply declined due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection originating from China.

On the 4th, the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization held a "Gyeonggi Tourism Public-Private Joint Countermeasure Meeting for Responding to the Novel Coronavirus" at the Tourism Organization conference room in Jangan-gu, Suwon, with about 50 workers from the province's tourism industry attending, the organization announced on the 5th.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the private tourism sector such as Everland, Korean Folk Village, and One Mount; travel agencies including Refresh, Let's Tour, and Jungbu Tourism; accommodation facilities such as Novotel Ambassador Suwon and Golden Tulip Ever Yongin; the airline industry including Asiana Airlines; Gyeonggi Tourism Association; Gyeonggi Branch of the Korea Foodservice Industry Association; Kintex; Suwon Convention Center; Pines Meeting Korea; Korea Ceramic Foundation; and Gyeonggi Credit Guarantee Foundation.

The Gyeonggi Tourism Organization formed a crisis management emergency response team to monitor daily industry trends and discuss countermeasures as needed.

They also decided to promote additional implementation of the special guarantee system and defer repayment of loans from the Tourism Promotion Fund. Furthermore, they agreed to strive for rapid normalization of the industry through large-scale public-private joint promotional marketing immediately after the situation recovers.

Yoo Dong-gyu, president of the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization, said, "Following MERS and SARS, the impact of this novel coronavirus epidemic on the province's tourism industry is severe," adding, "We will prepare mid- to long-term countermeasures together with the public and private sectors."

Meanwhile, related organizations attending the meeting called for prompt preparation of countermeasures.

A representative from the Korean Folk Village advised, "Since the novel coronavirus outbreak, Chinese tourists have almost disappeared, and domestic tourists have decreased by about half. The future is more worrisome than the present, so proper measures must be taken."

A representative from the Gyeonggi Tourism Association expressed the opinion that "As the repayment deadlines approach for companies that received loans during the ban on Chinese tourism, deferring the repayment period would greatly help these companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.