Seoul City to Promote Special Loans and Tourism Fund Creation for Tourism Industry Hit by COVID-19 (Comprehensive)

Providing public jobs within 500 billion KRW, up to 500 million KRW per company, to employ workers in the tourism sector

Tourism industry faces 95% outbound and 74% inbound cancellations
Duty-free shops see a 90% decrease compared to usual

Park Won-soon: "Crisis is an opportunity, let's overcome together and create a new turning point"

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon is visiting the Summit Hotel located in Jung-gu, Seoul, and inspecting the disinfected rooms. (Provided by Seoul Metropolitan Government)

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] "After actually touring the hotel, I understand the severity."

As Seoul's tourism industry suffers a major blow due to restrictions on Chinese tourists entering the country, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to mobilize all administrative resources to revitalize the industry. On the 14th, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon toured a hotel located in Jung-gu, Seoul, and together with related organizations, prepared and announced measures to revive Seoul tourism. This hotel was once bustling with group tourists before the COVID-19 outbreak, but with the cessation of Chinese visitors, it has been deserted for several weeks.

Seoul plans to first provide emergency special loans to small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners in Seoul facing crisis. The total scale is 500 billion KRW, with up to 500 million KRW per company. Public jobs will also be offered to tourism industry workers who are unemployed or on unpaid leave. To revive the rapidly declining MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) events, the basic support fee per foreign participant will be increased from 10,000 KRW to 20,000 KRW, and the foreign participant support condition will be relaxed from 50 to 20 people. Support for subscribing to safety insurance for foreign tourists will also be provided. Additionally, Seoul announced plans to accumulate 5 billion KRW annually in the Seoul Tourism Fund to be used in times of crisis.

Mayor Park said he plans to visit China as his first overseas trip after the COVID-19 situation calms down. He stated, "Despite various adverse conditions such as Japan's export restrictions, Seoul achieved a record high of 13.9 million foreign tourists last year. If we overcome this crisis together, we can create a new turning point."

At the meeting, tourism industry representatives including travel agencies and airlines discussed the current difficulties and countermeasures.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon held a meeting to overcome COVID-19 with stakeholders from the travel industry, accommodation business, and related organizations at the Summit Hotel on Jangchungdan-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul. Mayor Park is delivering a greeting. (Provided by Seoul City)

Park Jung-rok, Executive Vice President of the Seoul Tourism Association, said, "Many have already closed or started unpaid leave, and a mass unemployment crisis is expected by April. Employment demand seems likely to appear only after June, so please create tourism industry employment training programs for unemployed workers and establish a B2B type job search network." Park Jung-woo, Sales Support Team Leader at Jin Air, said, "Not only the airline industry but also the travel industry is working overtime to process refunds. The situation is serious as cancellations exceed ticketing." He added, "Please continue to promote safety in daily life through the Seoul Metropolitan Government and consider various support measures such as stopover products."

According to the tourism industry, outbound group travel products for Chinese tourists have been canceled by 95%, and inbound (foreigners traveling domestically) by 74%, with almost no inquiries or new bookings. Flights between Korea and China have decreased by about 70%, most MICE events have been canceled or postponed, and duty-free shops have seen a 90% decrease in visitors compared to usual.

Seoul plans to promote "Safe Seoul" (Phase 1 response), actively create tourism demand (Phase 2 recovery) to revive the stagnant tourism market, and strengthen the tourism ecosystem through diversification (Phase 3 leap forward).

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