Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Spreads Digital Tourism to 11 Countries Including Vietnam

Hwang Hee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that it will hold the ‘2021 KOPIST High-Level Tourism Policy Forum’ on the 23rd at 2 p.m. under the theme ‘Tourism, Rapid Direction Change: Crisis and Challenge,’ in cooperation with the Korea Tourism Organization, and will broadcast it live online.

Held for the eighth time this year since 2014, this forum will consider future tourism response directions and discuss digital transformation strategies amid rapidly changing domestic and international policy environments such as the COVID-19 crisis and the digital revolution.

The forum will be attended online by about 30 officials from tourism departments of 11 countries, including Claudia Mohme, Minister of International Trade and Tourism of Peru, and deputy ministers of tourism from five countries: Cambodia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Colombia, and Vietnam.

Notably, Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University in the United States and named by the UK’s Economist in 2011 as ‘the most influential economist of the past decade,’ will deliver the keynote speech, providing an overview of the waves of macroeconomic and tourism industry changes due to COVID-19.

In the first session, under the theme ‘Innovation Strategies of Tourism Companies in Response to COVID-19,’ Joo Jin-myung, head of business planning at MyRealTrip, will present ‘Diversification Strategies of Tourism Services Due to COVID-19,’ and Bae Tae-jun, professor of the Department of Startup Convergence at Hanyang University, will explain ‘Strategies to Overcome Crisis through Convergence of Tourism and Other Industries.’

In the second session, themed ‘Future Responses in Tourism: Digital Transformation,’ Thordur Reynisson, senior advisor at Nordic Innovation, will discuss ‘The New Normal of Changed Travel: The Era of Smart Tourism,’ and Eric Ricaurte, founder of Green View, will present on ‘Innovation in the Hotel Sector Using Green Technology.’

KOPIST is a project that shares Korea’s tourism development experience and technology with development cooperation countries. Since 2014, through the ‘KOPIST Invitation Training Program,’ the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has trained about 350 officials from tourism departments of 25 countries over seven years and has developed and promoted projects for tourism development in developing countries such as the ‘Establishment of the Mongolia Comprehensive Tourism Education Center’ and the ‘Sri Lanka Community-Based Tourism Development Project.’

Minister Hwang Hee of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated, “Overcoming COVID-19 is a global challenge that requires international cooperation,” adding, “Korea is fully committed to quarantine through vaccine passports and actively participates in the resumption of international tourism exchanges. We will lead innovation in the tourism industry by promoting travel based on intelligent tourism in line with changes in the digital environment.”

Minister Hwang also added, “Through KOPIST, we will actively participate in tourism development projects in 11 partner countries and contribute to sustainable tourism development. I hope this forum will help not only the 11 partner countries but also domestic tourism industries and related university (graduate) students understand the trends of changes in the global tourism industry after COVID-19 and predict the future of tourism.”

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