CEO Bae Jongcheon of Gyeongnam Tourism Foundation Drives 'Smart and Sports Tourism' Sales Boom in Taiwan

Agreement with Taiwan’s Largest Payment Platform, 'LINE Pay'

Opening Currency-Free Travel Routes in Gyeongnam

The Gyeongnam Tourism Foundation has officially launched efforts to attract Taiwanese tourists by introducing an innovative digital payment system and developing specialized tourism products locally in Taiwan.

Group photo after signing an agreement with Line Pay and travel agency officials at the Luci Hotel event hall in Taipei.

On March 18 (local time), the Gyeongnam Tourism Foundation held the "Gyeongnam Tourism Enterprise-Taiwan Tourism Industry Tourism Content Business Day" event at the Lucy Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan, and signed a multilateral business agreement with LINE Pay Taiwan—the country’s largest payment platform—and major local travel agencies.

The core of this agreement is the deployment of 'LINE Pay', used by over 13 million people—more than half of Taiwan's population—at tourism sites throughout Gyeongnam. With this, Taiwanese tourists will be able to make easy payments at major hotels, restaurants, and aesthetic centers in Gyeongnam using only their smartphones, without the need for currency exchange. In particular, by utilizing LINE Pay's Korean travel content platform, 'K-Travel', information about Gyeongnam's tourism partner establishments will be directly promoted to the Taiwanese market, which is expected to bring significant publicity benefits.

The foundation is also collaborating with Collatour and Obok Travel, two of Taiwan's top five travel agencies, as well as sports-specialized Jin-Yu Travel, to attract sports tourism visitors for extended stays. Together, they plan to co-develop high value-added themed products such as marathons, trekking, and cycling tours that take advantage of Gyeongnam's beautiful natural environment, setting a concrete goal of attracting 3,000 Taiwanese sports tourists over the next three years. In particular, the foundation plans to focus on commercializing these products in connection with major regional sports events, such as the Geoje 100K International Trail Running Competition.

CEO Bae Jongcheon stated, "We will showcase Gyeongnam's unique appeal by combining sports tourism content preferred by Taiwanese visitors with the convenience of LINE Pay," adding, "By promoting extended-stay tourism that goes beyond simple sightseeing, we aim to deliver substantial vitality to the local economy."

Meanwhile, building on the achievements of this visit to Taiwan, the foundation intends to actively support local tourism enterprises in their expansion into the Taiwanese market and will swiftly implement fam tours and joint marketing campaigns with Taiwanese travel agencies starting in the second half of the year.

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