"‘Lowering Requirements for International Conferences’... Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Implements Amendment to ‘International Conference Industry Act Enforcement Decree’"

Expansion of Participant Numbers and Designated Scope of Aggregation Facilities

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The government is significantly easing the requirements for designating international conference complex districts. The original standard of attracting 5,000 foreign participants annually will be adjusted, and the criteria for international conference cluster facilities will be lowered while the scope will be expanded.

On the 27th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that the revised enforcement decree of the 'International Conference Industry Act,' which innovates regulations such as the designation requirements for international conference complex districts, will take effect from the 2nd of next month.

The international conference industry is a representative high value-added tourism industry that not only creates jobs and enhances the national image by attracting large numbers of foreign tourists but also has a significant ripple effect on related industries such as hotels and shopping.

Accordingly, since 2018, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and local governments have designated five complex districts in Incheon, Goyang in Gyeonggi, Gwangju, Daegu, and Busan to strengthen the competitiveness of the international conference industry. In addition, 26 cluster facilities such as accommodation and distribution facilities within the complex districts have been designated and are being operated.

Previously, to be designated as an international conference complex district, the number of foreign participants attending conferences held in the designated complex district area had to be at least 5,000 annually (5,000 or more in the previous year or an average of 5,000 or more over the past three years). Furthermore, the area had to meet requirements such as having professional conference facilities, one or more international conference cluster facilities (accommodation, large-scale stores, performance halls, etc.), transportation facilities, and transportation guidance systems.

However, due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the number of foreign participants drastically decreased over the past two years, and most local governments preparing to designate additional complex districts were unable to meet the requirements. According to the 2020 MICE industry statistics, the number of foreign participants in international conferences held in Korea dropped from 790,949 in 2019 to 28,244 in 2020, a 96.4% decrease after COVID-19.

Additionally, the types and sizes of cluster facilities were limited to tourism accommodation businesses (100 rooms or more), large-scale stores, and performance halls (500 seats or more), leading to opinions that various facilities that could practically help hold international conferences were not being designated as cluster facilities.

Through the revision of the 'International Conference Industry Act Enforcement Decree,' the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism decided to apply flexible standards regarding the 'number of foreign participants in international conferences' among the designation requirements for international conference complex districts when a crisis alert of warning level or higher is issued under the 'Disaster and Safety Management Act.' When calculating the number of foreigners stipulated in the enforcement decree, it was adjusted so that the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism can multiply by a weighting factor specified by public notice.

The designation targets for international conference cluster facilities were also relaxed and expanded. Among tourism accommodation facilities, 4-star or 5-star hotels' room ownership criteria were eased from '100 rooms or more' to '30 rooms or more,' and performance halls' seating capacity criteria were relaxed from '500 seats or more' to '300 seats or more.' For facilities that need to be designated as cluster facilities for the promotion and development of the international conference industry, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism may separately specify them by public notice.

A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official said, "This revision of the enforcement decree is significant in that it quickly reflected the policy demands of the international conference industry field through institutional improvement," adding, "Subsequently, we plan to promptly establish and revise related public notices on weighting factors applied to the designation requirements for international conference complex districts and additional cluster facility target facilities, and promote contests for designating complex districts and cluster facilities within the year to expand regional international conference industry hubs."

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