Ministry of Culture and Tourism Corporation to Focus on Intensive Development of Tourism Unicorns

Selection of 140 Support Projects, Up to 100 Million KRW Funding

The government is set to focus on nurturing tourism unicorns that will lead Korean tourism.

14th Tourism Venture Project Contest Selected Project Campit
Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

On the 28th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced that they have selected 140 projects as final support targets through the '14th Tourism Venture Business Contest' held from February 1 to March 31, and will begin full-scale support.

A total of 932 companies participated in this contest. Overcoming a competition rate of about 6.7 to 1, a total of 140 companies were selected, including 35 preliminary tourism ventures (pre-startups), 70 early-stage tourism ventures (within 3 years of establishment), and 35 growth-stage tourism ventures (over 3 years but within 7 years of establishment).

The final selected companies included many that reflect tourism trends in the endemic era. Examples include 'NomadMap,' a travel gathering platform for those who enjoy traveling while working; 'Campit,' a one-stop camping service platform; 'EcoLine,' an eco-hiking activation product for wildfire-affected areas; and 'Milmuljujo,' a traditional liquor class offering brewery experiences.

Among companies that swiftly commercialized the latest technologies, notable ones reflecting recent tourism trends were ▲'FairPlay,' an AI-based personalized outdoor activity schedule recommender; ▲'DataMannity,' which optimizes lodging revenue management by analyzing big data; and ▲'HashSnap,' which provides tourism marketing solutions using big data from social media.

Additionally, ▲'Osiri,' offering contactless check-in and mobile front desk solutions; and ▲'OnVacation,' providing customized travel management based on Software as a Service (SaaS), were spotlighted as business items that enhance productivity and efficiency in the tourism industry.

Selected companies will receive commercialization support funds (30 million KRW to a maximum of 100 million KRW) as well as customized diagnosis and consulting, investment attraction, and industry collaboration and exchange. Companies selected as 'growth tourism ventures' will also receive a certificate issued in the name of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Furthermore, for the first time this year, leading tourism companies such as Yanolja, Tide Square, Expedia, and Trip.com will serve as mentors for tourism venture companies, supporting the nurturing of emerging tourism businesses.

Through the tourism venture multilateral collaboration program 'Connect,' which involves global companies like Mastercard and Amazon as well as investment-related institutions from various countries, support for business scale expansion and global advancement will be strengthened. In January, four tourism ventures participated in the presidential economic delegation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through the 'Connect' program, achieving success in entering the Middle Eastern market.

Park Bo-gyun, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, "We will support applicants step-by-step in various ways from the creative planning stage, including funding, legal, marketing, labor relations, and know-how for overseas expansion. By combining the applicants' ideas with the Ministry's experience, we aim to create successful models in the fields of culture, arts, and tourism and nurture them into world-class unicorn companies."

Lee Jae-hwan, Vice President of the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "Since COVID-19, the global tourism industry has been undergoing a 'great transformation' toward service technology-centered business, direct transactions with consumers, and supply chain changes. In response, we will discover innovative tourism ventures and support their growth domestically and provide multifaceted support for the global expansion of K-tourism startups, which have so far been regarded as 'domestic only.'"

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