Gyeongbuk Province Issues 750 Billion Won in Local Love Gift Certificates... Three Times Larger Than Last Year

Franchise Stores in the Province Triple in 5 Months... Only Ulleung-gun Has Not Issued Yet

About 250 employees of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Government, including Governor Lee Cheol-woo, participating in the 'Thanks Challenge' on May 6.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] Gyeongsangbuk-do announced on the 15th that it will promote the issuance of local love gift certificates worth 750 billion KRW this year in 22 cities and counties within the province to revitalize the local economy, which has been stagnant due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

Originally planning to issue local love gift certificates worth 293 billion KRW, Gyeongbuk Province decided to issue an additional 85 billion KRW worth in line with the government's third supplementary budget, following the 370 billion KRW worth of 10% special discount sales. This amount is three times larger than the 250 billion KRW issued last year when national funding support began.

However, Ulleung-gun in the province is delaying the issuance timing of local love gift certificates due to its island location. Ulleung-gun is expected to decide on issuance around the end of the year.

As of July, local love gift certificates worth 600 billion KRW have been issued. Although the sales timing may be slightly adjusted depending on the local circumstances of each city and county, the 10% discount sales plan will continue until the end of December.

The form of local love gift certificates has also diversified from the existing paper-type certificates to card or mobile types. Cities and counties are increasingly issuing card-type (introduced in 9 cities/counties, planned introduction in 3 cities/counties) or mobile-type (4 cities/counties) gift certificates selectively according to local conditions.

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, said, "Local love gift certificates are greatly contributing to revitalizing the local economy by preventing the outflow of local funds in response to the post-COVID era, thereby invigorating neighborhood businesses and directly increasing sales for small business owners," urging active participation.

Meanwhile, as of July, there are about 98,000 affiliated stores for local love gift certificates in Gyeongbuk Province, nearly tripling from about 32,000 affiliated stores in February over five months. This is seen as a result of expanding the issuance of local love gift certificates, conducting 10% discount sales, and providing emergency disaster relief funds through local love gift certificates.

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