Seoul City Provides 1.5 Billion Won Cash Support to 1,500 Tourism Businesses Hit Hard by COVID-19

Travel Industry, Hotel Industry, and International Conference Industry 'Seoul Tourism Industry Emergency Survival Fund' Support
Online Applications Open for 5 Days from the 22nd on Seoul Tourism Foundation Website... Payments Begin from the 2nd of Next Month

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is set to provide ‘emergency survival funds’ to support the tourism industry struggling due to COVID-19.

On the 14th, Seoul announced that as part of the ‘Five Warmth Measures for the People’s Economy’ announced on the 2nd, it plans to distribute ‘emergency survival funds’ to the tourism industry, which is facing existential threats. The goal is to eliminate blind spots by providing funds without discrimination to businesses that have suffered significant damage regardless of their size but were excluded from the government’s disaster relief fund eligibility.

Seoul will provide 1 million KRW in cash as operating funds to 1,500 businesses engaged in travel agencies, hotel businesses, and international conference businesses under the Tourism Promotion Act. The total scale is 1.5 billion KRW. To ensure swift payment, only minimal criteria and necessary documents will be verified, such as the number of employees (for travel agencies) and annual sales (based on small business sales standards).

Last year, the number of foreign tourists visiting Seoul totaled 1.92 million, a sharp decline of 85.6% compared to the record high of 13.9 million in 2019. According to an analysis by Hana Financial Management Research Institute on sales changes by industry due to COVID-19, the travel industry experienced the largest drop in sales among 230 industries.

The travel industry, which suffered the greatest damage from COVID-19, is eligible for support if it is a Seoul-registered business with ‘five or more regular employees and annual sales of 3 billion KRW or less.’ Unlike the government’s third disaster relief fund (Small Business Support Fund), which is only provided to small business owners with fewer than five employees, Seoul plans to include small businesses with five or more employees in the support target to provide emergency aid indiscriminately to the entire travel industry in crisis.

For hotel and international conference businesses, all companies meeting the small business criteria of annual sales of 1 billion KRW or less (hotel business) and 3 billion KRW or less (international conference business) can apply regardless of the number of employees. Due to the nature of these industries, businesses that did not meet the employee or sales criteria and thus did not receive government disaster relief funds will be fully supported.

Applications will be accepted from the 22nd to 6 p.m. on the 26th and can only be submitted online through the Seoul Tourism Foundation website to prevent the spread of COVID-19. After verifying eligibility, the funds will be disbursed sequentially starting from the 2nd of next month.

Last year, immediately after the outbreak of COVID-19, Seoul implemented the ‘Seoul-type Crisis Overcoming Project,’ becoming the first nationwide to provide direct funds (project expenses) rather than loans to the tourism industry, contributing to minimizing COVID-19 damage and preventing the collapse of the tourism ecosystem.

Joo Yong-tae, Director of the Seoul Tourism and Sports Bureau, said, “In the unprecedented global pandemic of COVID-19, the tourism industry is in the worst situation where gatherings themselves are impossible, and the damage is beyond words,” adding, “We hope this emergency survival fund support will at least slightly help alleviate the difficulties faced by the industry.” He also added, “We will continue to consider and prepare measures to safely revitalize Seoul tourism in the COVID-19 era so that Seoul tourism can overcome the crisis and regain vitality as a global tourist city loved by people worldwide.”

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