[E-Daily Kang Gyeong-rok Travel Reporter] Experts point out that to develop marine tourism—which encompasses cruises, marinas, island tourism, fishing village tourism, and water sports—into a new growth engine for the national tourism industry, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries must establish a more coordinated partnership. They argue that it is difficult to foster marine tourism as a cohesive industry under the current structure, where port and coastal infrastructure is managed by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, tourism content and marketing by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and local implementation by municipal governments.
The government is currently pushing forward with a large-scale project to develop marine leisure tourism cities along the nation’s coastline. The budget allocated for this initiative alone is in the 1 trillion won range. However, experts in the field warn that under the current fragmented administrative system, there is a high likelihood that the infrastructure built with this massive budget will end up as “empty facilities.”
The core of the problem lies in a supplier-centric administrative approach. There is currently no organic link between the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, which builds port facilities, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which creates content to attract tourists.
At the recent Seoul International Academic Conference hosted by the Korean Tourism Association, academic experts also characterized the current structure as “out-of-sync administration.” They pointed out that a recurring pattern has emerged: infrastructure is built but there is no content to utilize it, and while there is tourism demand, there are no transportation networks to access the destinations.

Academic experts propose “collaborative governance with executive power” as an alternative, moving beyond merely declarative consultative bodies. Their analysis suggests that, given the nature of civil service organizations, collaboration is bound to remain merely formal if personnel evaluations and budgets are kept separate. Consequently, the idea of introducing a “joint pilot project”—in which the two ministries jointly establish budgets and key performance indicators (KPIs) and share an evaluation system—is gaining traction. The rationale is that a system must be established that transcends inter-ministerial interests by granting joint budget execution authority from the policy design stage onward.
Japan currently operates a model in which a portion of the revenue from motorboat racing is allocated to a marine tourism fund. This secures a stable source of funding and covers the operating costs of marine tourism infrastructure. Experts suggest that it is time for South Korea to break down inter-ministerial barriers and consider a permanent funding structure that involves the private sector and local governments.
Ensuring on-the-ground acceptance is also cited as essential. The priority should be establishing a “one-stop integrated transportation system” that connects trains, buses, and ships. There is a call to implement region-specific, tailored tourism policies through a data platform capable of analyzing coastal demand nationwide in real time. Analysts note that without a virtuous cycle in which residents participate in operations to generate revenue, there may be limits to attracting tourists.
Experts emphasized, “Now is the golden opportunity to fundamentally reform the administrative system,” and warned, “Without an inter-ministerial control tower that breaks down departmental silos and implements substantive integration of budgetary and personnel authority, it will be difficult to ensure sustainability even with large-scale budget investments.”

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