[Edaily Kang Gyeong-rok Travel Reporter] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will provide a total of 6.1 billion won in financial incentives to revitalize regional tourism. The plan aims to disperse tourism demand, which is currently concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, to regional areas and to improve the regional economic structure by identifying innovative regional tourism ideas.
The two ministries announced on the 5th that they had finalized the amount of special grant tax funds—totaling 6.1 billion won—to be provided to local governments that won the “Rising Stars of Korean Tourism” competition, a contest for innovative regional tourism ideas. This initiative marks the first collaborative project of the “Regional Tourism Policy Council,” which was launched last July.

The competition categories are divided into four areas: ▲ Innovation in Tourism Products ▲ Promotion of Tourism Consumption ▲ Restoration of Trust in Tourism ▲ Tourism Income Villages. A total of 13 local governments will receive awards, including three metropolitan governments (one Grand Prize and two Excellence Awards) and ten basic local governments (one Grand Prize, two Excellence Awards, and seven Merit Awards). Selected local governments will receive special grants on a sliding scale based on evaluation results, and outstanding projects will also qualify for the 2027 “Tourism Star” finals.
Local governments nationwide can apply until the 20th of this month. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to select the final recipients following a review process from late October to early December, and will hold an awards ceremony in December.
The government plans to use this incentive program as a springboard to expand regional tourism infrastructure centered on local airports and actively foster tourism models that lead to tangible income generation for local residents. Kang Jeong-won, Director General of the Tourism Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, “We are focusing our policy efforts on boldly expanding the flow of tourism from the Seoul metropolitan area to regional areas,” adding, “We hope the innovative ideas discovered through this competition will serve as an opportunity to foster the growth of both regional and national economies.”