Tourism Organization Announces Contest for Enhancing Barrier-Free Tourism Connectivity... 4 Billion KRW Support Over 3 Years

Open Call for Metropolitan and Basic Local Governments
Until January 16 Next Year

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 22nd that they will hold a public contest for metropolitan and basic local governments until January 16 next year for the ‘2025 Barrier-Free Tourism Connectivity Enhancement’ project.

Kyeongpo Beach in Gangneung City, Korea's first 'Barrier-Free Tourism City.'
[Photo by Korea Tourism Organization]

The Barrier-Free Tourism Connectivity Enhancement project is being promoted to improve the overall convenience of travel by connecting facilities and services such as transportation, accommodation, and restaurants for barrier-free tourism within regions, in order to guarantee the tourism enjoyment rights of vulnerable groups.

Since 2022, through the public contest, Gangneung City in Gangwon Province (selected in 2022) and Ulsan Metropolitan City (selected in 2024) are currently developing barrier-free tourism zones. Through this contest, one additional city (zone) will be selected as the project site for 2025.

The local governments finally selected in this contest will receive up to 4 billion KRW in national funding over three years, and through this, various projects will be promoted until 2027, including △introduction of barrier-free transportation △improvement of accessibility to private facilities such as accommodation and dining △expansion of barrier-free tourism information △development of barrier-free tourism products and training of specialized personnel.

Detailed information related to the contest can be found on the Korea Tourism Organization’s ‘Open Tourism, Travel for All’ website starting from the 22nd. To enhance understanding of this contest, the organization will hold a project briefing session on the 28th at Centerpoint Gwanghwamun in Jung-gu, Seoul.

At this briefing session, Ha Seok-mi, CEO of the Korea Disabled Healing Travel Center, who travels extensively in a wheelchair and works as a travel expert, will participate and share vivid stories about the meaning of travel and personal experiences as a member of the vulnerable tourism group.

Joo Sung-hee, head of the Tourism Welfare and Safety Center at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "Despite the popularization of travel among the public, it is a reality that various obstacles exist during travel for vulnerable groups including people with disabilities," and added, "We ask for the interest and participation of local governments nationwide so that an environment convenient for vulnerable tourism groups can be established and an environment where everyone can travel freely can be created."

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