"If It's Expensive and Unfriendly, Visitors Won't Return"... Culture Ministry Launches Price Gouging Crackdown

Roundtable with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea Tourism Organization, and 13 DMOs
Expanding the Cooperation Network to Include Tourism Dure and Village Enterprises

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is launching efforts to address persistent issues in regional tourism, such as excessive pricing and poor hospitality. Joint campaigns will be promoted, focusing on Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) and local governments, while expanding the scope of public-private cooperation down to the township, town, and neighborhood levels.

The ministry announced that, together with the Korea Tourism Organization and 13 regional DMOs, it will hold a roundtable on May 20, 2026, at Sangyeonjae in Jung-gu, Seoul, to invigorate regional tourism. This roundtable is part of the "Tourism Saemaeul Movement" initiative discussed at the 16th Cabinet Meeting held on April 14, 2026.

Approximately 40 participants, including representatives from 10 basic local government DMOs and their respective officials, as well as three regional DMO clusters and their local government counterparts, will attend the event. Attendees will discuss plans to address tourism-related challenges in each region and strategies for implementing nationwide campaigns.

The ministry plans to urge DMOs and local governments to take an active role in improving excessive pricing and poor hospitality, which damage the first impression of regional tourism. To encourage repeat visits from travelers, cooperation with local business associations and other stakeholders will be strengthened, centering on the DMOs.

A joint campaign involving 13 DMOs and local governments will also be launched. The ministry intends to create a memorable joint slogan and will request cooperation from local governments to allow regions without DMOs or where support has ended to participate as well.

The cooperative structure of DMOs will be further expanded. Discussions will take place on extending partnerships beyond the current basic local government level to include townships, towns, and neighborhood administrative districts. Opportunities for collaboration will also be provided with various local organizations, such as Tourism Dure and village enterprises, alongside DMOs.

Through these efforts, the ministry aims to bring together opinions on all aspects of regional tourism, including promotion, marketing, administrative support, and tourism product development. The goal is to establish a resident-led public-private cooperation system for regional tourism, moving beyond one-off campaigns.

Kang Dongjin, Director of Tourism Policy at the ministry, stated, "Regional tourism is a key element in revitalizing local economies and an important policy to help prevent regional decline. We will use this roundtable as a starting point in our efforts to create regions free from excessive pricing and known for their hospitality." He added, "We will spare no administrative and financial support to ensure the participation of diverse people in each region."

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