Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to Provide 694 Billion KRW Financial Support to Tourism Industry Next Year

Due to the prolonged impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a travel agency in Seoul has closed its doors. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 30th that it will provide a total of 694 billion KRW in direct and indirect financial support next year using the Tourism Fund to assist tourism businesses struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The support funds are set at 594 billion KRW for new loans and 100 billion KRW for repayment deferrals. The ministry stated, "To prepare for a surge in funding demand in the first half of next year, we plan to proactively supply 70% (420 billion KRW) of the loan budget to the market."

The scope of support has also been expanded to include operators of tourism entertainment restaurants, foreigner-only entertainment restaurants, and tourism rail businesses, who can now receive operating capital loans. The condition is that the maximum support limit can be set at 50% of the operating expenses of the fiscal year with the highest costs within the past three years. The application process has changed from once per quarter to accepting applications at any time, with loan reviews conducted monthly.

Businesses wishing to apply for operating capital loans from the Tourism Fund can visit the Korea Tourism Association Central Office, industry-specific associations, or regional tourism associations to apply, or submit applications by mail. For facility funds, applications can be made at 15 loan-handling banks (branches).

In addition to new loan support, from January to the end of next year, a one-year principal repayment deferral will be implemented for tourism businesses whose Tourism Fund loan principal repayment dates fall due. This also applies to businesses that were eligible for repayment deferral this year but did not apply.

Detailed information can be found on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism website.

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