KOTRA Supports K-Tourism Startups Entering the Middle East

K-Tourism Startup IR Roadshow Held in Abu Dhabi, UAE

KOTRA, together with the Korea Tourism Organization, held the ‘K-Tourism Startup IR Roadshow’ in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the 4th to support Korean companies' entry into the Middle Eastern market, the agency announced.

This event was promoted as part of the ‘2nd Korea-Middle East Shuttle Economic Cooperation Group,’ a follow-up support initiative after the UAE presidential visit in January. It is particularly meaningful as government ministries and agencies such as KOTRA, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Korea Tourism Organization collaborated to support Korean companies in the tourism and content sectors entering the Middle Eastern market.

The event, jointly organized by the two organizations, consisted of ▲Tourism Startup IR Roadshow ▲Business Consultation Meeting ▲Introduction of Middle East Market Entry Cases ▲Networking Reception.

KOTRA, in collaboration with the Korea Tourism Organization specialized in tourism and MICE industries, recruited tourism companies with promising potential for Middle East market entry and matched them with leading local investors, innovation funds, and accelerators. A total of 19 domestic companies participated in the event.

The UAE government has announced a goal to achieve approximately $120 billion in tourism industry contribution to the domestic gross domestic product (GDP) by 2031. In the digital innovation process of the UAE tourism industry, many opportunities are expected to be created for Korean platform companies with IT technology competitiveness.

Starting with this event, KOTRA will strengthen the cooperation system to support tourism startups’ entry into the Middle Eastern market. To this end, centered in Dubai, where the Middle East regional headquarters is located, KOTRA plans to closely cooperate with local networks such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) to intensively support entry into promising fields such as culture, content, and smart cities. Jeon Chun-woo, head of KOTRA’s Small and Medium Enterprises Division, said, “Recently, tourism demand in the Middle East region has been increasing, and with the strong power of oil money, the entry of our tourism startups is promising,” adding, “We will spare no effort to provide comprehensive support so that many companies can thrive in the Middle Eastern market.”

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