Ministry of Culture and Tourism Organization Raise Support Funds for Hosting International Conferences

by Park Pyunghee

Published 21 Jan.2025 16:42(KST)

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 21st that they will increase the international conference attraction support fund by 1.5 times compared to the previous year, providing up to 63 million KRW to stabilize the tourism market.

The Ministry and the Tourism Organization have restructured the 'International Conference Attraction Support System' and will apply the increased support fund starting from the 22nd.

The international conference attraction support fund is categorized based on the number of foreign participants attending the international conference into ▲small-scale (50?500 people) ▲medium-scale (501?1000 people) ▲large-scale (1001 people and above). Following the restructuring, the support amount for all categories will be expanded by 1.5 times compared to the previous year.

Korea Tourism Organization Headquarters [Photo by Korea Tourism Organization]

This revision of the support system is part of the 'Tourism Market Stabilization Measures' announced at the 9th National Tourism Strategy Meeting held on December 16 last year. It was prepared to resolve instability in the high value-added tourism market of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions) and to assist related organizations such as academic societies and associations in attracting international conferences.

The Korea Tourism Organization will also expand overseas marketing bases to secure the MICE tourism market globally. In addition to existing locations such as New York, USA, and London, UK, new bases will be added in Osaka, Japan, and Taipei, Taiwan, strengthening local marketing and expanding networking at a total of seven locations to attract MICE tourists. As part of this effort, the organization's New York office plans to participate in the representative U.S. MICE networking event 'SMU (Successful Meetings University) International' held from March 10 to 12, focusing on discovering new international conferences and maintaining close collaboration with meeting planners and key attraction stakeholders.

Detailed information about the international conference attraction support system can be found on the Korea Tourism Organization's MICE information system 'K-MICE.'

Jung Chang-wook, head of the MICE division at the organization, stated, "Last year, we attracted 26 medium to large international conferences, and including other international conference support projects, we achieved the attraction of over 16,000 participants. As competition among countries intensifies due to the high added value of the MICE sector, we will expand the scale of international conference support and form close networks with academic societies and associations to surpass last year's achievements."