Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Announces International Conference Complex District Contest... "Facility Standards to Be Relaxed"

Museums, Art Galleries, and Specialized Sports Facilities Also Eligible to Apply as Cluster Facilities

Panoramic view of Songdo International Conference Complex District. Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 4th that it will hold a public contest until November 1 to designate local governments and facilities as International Conference Complex Districts and International Conference Cluster Facilities according to the relaxed designation criteria through regulatory innovation.

Since 2018, the Ministry and local governments have designated and operated five complex districts in Incheon Metropolitan City, Goyang City in Gyeonggi Province, Gwangju Metropolitan City, Daegu Metropolitan City, and Busan Metropolitan City to strengthen the competitiveness of the international conference industry. Within these complex districts, 26 cluster facilities such as accommodation and distribution facilities have been designated and operated as cluster facilities.

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

However, as the number of foreign participants in international conferences sharply declined due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, most local governments preparing to designate additional complex districts were pointed out as not meeting this requirement.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism collected field opinions, revised the Enforcement Decree of the International Conference Industry Act in August, and amended related notifications on the 20th of last month.

Among the designation requirements for complex districts, the standard for calculating the number of foreign participants in international conferences?‘an average of 5,000 or more over the three years preceding the year of designation’?was adjusted so that for 2020 and 2021, years in which crisis alerts of warning level or higher were issued under the Framework Act on Disaster and Safety Management, the number can be calculated by multiplying a weighting factor determined by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism through notification.

Additionally, the criteria for cluster facilities such as accommodation and performance venues were relaxed to include museums, art galleries, and specialized sports facilities.

When designated as an International Conference Complex District, various charges such as traffic inducement charges are reduced, and tourism funds can be supported through evaluations of projects to revitalize the International Conference Complex District.

The Ministry plans to select targets for International Conference Complex Districts through verification of designation requirements, on-site inspections, and comprehensive evaluations by the end of this year, and designate cluster facilities by comprehensively reviewing facility competitiveness and institutional commitment.

A Ministry official said, “This public contest for complex districts and cluster facilities is being promoted through regulatory innovation to timely realize the policy demands of the international conference industry field. We will continue to expand support so that the international conference industry can make a leap forward.”

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