Boosting Regional Tourism with Local Airports: Culture and Land Ministries Launch Joint Forum

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on April 21 that they will hold a collaborative forum aimed at increasing the influx of foreign tourists into regional areas using local airports as hubs. The first forum will be held on April 21 at Daegu City Hall, with plans to expand discussions to other locations such as Gimhae and Cheongju.

Korea Airports Corporation

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This forum is a follow-up measure to the "Establishment of Regional Airports as Inbound Tourism Hubs" plan, which was announced at the expanded National Tourism Strategy Meeting in February. The government plans to strengthen connections between regional airports and nearby tourist areas in order to boost foreign tourist arrivals, identify collaborative initiatives that will encourage longer stays and greater spending in local communities, and uncover new tasks for cooperation.

The inaugural forum in Daegu will be attended by representatives from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Daegu City, North Gyeongsang Province, Korea Tourism Organization, Korea Airports Corporation, Korea Culture & Tourism Institute, airlines, and the travel industry. Participants will review local airport infrastructure, regional accommodation and transportation, tourism content, promotion and marketing, and challenges faced by the industry, and will discuss practical ways to collaborate.

At the forum, Shinwook Son, Research Fellow at the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute, will present on the current state of regional tourism and airports, as well as related policy issues. The meeting will also cover the progress of Daegu Airport’s inbound tourism conversion, regional tourism challenges for Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the state of the aviation market, directions for developing travel products, and discuss role-sharing among organizations and a system for monitoring results.

Following Daegu, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plan to hold additional collaborative forums in Gimhae in May and Cheongju in June. In the second half of the year, they will jointly establish a "Tourism-Aviation Policy Council" to identify further initiatives.

Kim Younghye, Acting Director-General for Aviation Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "We will actively attract foreign tourists by leveraging the overseas sales networks of domestic airlines and create conditions for foreign airlines to launch new routes to regional airports."

Kim Daehyun, the Second Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, "Regional airports are the optimal gateway for bringing foreign tourists into local areas," adding, "We will seek ways to encourage foreign tourists to stay longer and spend more during their visits."

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