[Edaily Reporter LEE SEON-WOO ] It has been revealed that the portion of next year’s government budget allocated to workforce training within the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) industry—which includes exhibitions and conventions—amounts to less than 2% of the total. Based on an estimated 170,000 workers in the exhibition and international conference sectors, this amounts to less than 4,000 won per person per year.
When calculated to include the events industry—which, by nature, falls under the MICE sector but is excluded from support due to the absence of relevant legislation—the per-person budget for workforce development falls short of 2,000 won. The events industry is estimated to employ approximately 180,000 people. Critics point out that despite being a highly labor-dependent industry—where labor costs account for 80% of total operating expenses—talent development remains a blind spot in government policy.

◇High Reliance on Human Resources… Yet Budget for Workforce Development Takes a Back Seat
On the 20th, an analysis by E-Daily’s Tourism & MICE News Team, The BeLT, of the 2027 project briefings from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) revealed that out of the 35.9 billion won budget allocated for fostering the exhibition and MICE industries, the budget for workforce developmentamounted to only 659 million won—a mere 1.8% of the total. This budget was allocated entirely by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the lead agency for the exhibition industry, did not allocate separate funds for workforce development within its exhibition industry promotion budget. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has allocated 24.2 billion won for the promotion of the MICE industry next year, while the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has allocated 11.7 billion won for the promotion of the exhibition industry.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism maintains that “the budget for training MICE professionals is not significantly different from this year’s.” However, compared to previous years, it has already been significantly reduced. The budget for job training targeting new talent—such as college students and job seekers—and industry professionals, which approached 1 billion won in 2025, has already been cut by 30% this year. The internship budget, which once supported over 100 people with a budget exceeding 400 million won, has shrunk to 100 million won this year.
The digital expert training program, which had allocated nearly 300 million won annually to support digital transformation (DX) and artificial intelligence transformation (AX), was completely abolished this year. In contrast, 1.96 billion won—the same amount as last year—was allocated for digital competency-building training for travel industry workers. This stands in stark contrast to the 4.968 billion won earmarked solely for cultivating AX specialists in the content industry.
An official from the Korea MICE Association stated, “Although demand and satisfaction levels for training—such as AI-powered video production and proposal writing—were quite high, the program was discontinued due to across-the-board budget cuts.” The official added, “It is difficult to request a separate allocation for the tourism sector’s digital workforce development budget, as the nature of the industry differs from that of the travel and lodging sectors, and the budget is already tight.”
Although the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s budget for promoting the exhibition industry next year amounts to 11.7 billion won—a 68% increase from this year’s approximately 7 billion won—workforce development currently relies on support budgets from other ministries and agencies. A significant portion of the 250 million won total budget for the employment support program conducted this year by the Exhibition Industry Promotion Association was provided by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Similarly, the five-year, 5 billion won project to train specialized professionals in digital convergence trade exhibitions—currently being carried out in partnership with three universities, including Kyung Hee University, Sejong University, and Hallym University—secured its funding from a separate source rather than the exhibition industry promotion budget.
An official from the Association expressed concern, stating, “Since these budgets were secured through competitive grants, there is a high likelihood that these projects could be suspended at any time depending on the circumstances of the relevant ministries or agencies.”

◇ Changes in Job Competencies Due to AI Adoption… Education Must Keep Pace
Industry observers point out that while government policies have focused heavily on supporting the attraction and hosting of international conferences and exhibitions, foundational investments—such as the training of specialized personnel—have been relatively sidelined. They argue that by prioritizing projects that yield short-term results, such as the number of events attracted and the number of participants, the government has neglected to build the industrial infrastructure that the private sector alone cannot sustain.
In fact, of the 24.2 billion won allocated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for the promotion of the MICE industry next year, 12.9 billion won—53% of the total—is earmarked for supporting the attraction and hosting of corporate meetings, incentive travel, and international conferences. When the budget for participating in overseas trade shows for marketing purposes is included, the total reaches 14.1 billion won, accounting for nearly 60% of the total. In contrast, the budget allocated for workforce development is 659 million won, representing a mere 2.7% of the MCST’s MICE industry promotion budget. Similarly, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy allocated more than 85% of its total 11.7 billion won exhibition industry promotion budget to supporting the hosting of exhibitions and trade shows.
Critics point out that a support model centered on attracting and hosting events has limitations in terms of strengthening the competitiveness of individual companies. The CEO of a mid-sized convention planning firm pointed out, “From a company’s perspective, attracting events and groups is merely indirect support, so direct support is practically nonexistent.” In particular, as the job competencies required in the industry are rapidly changing due to the spread of AI and digital technologies, there are calls to support specialized training and retraining—which individual companies find difficult to handle on their own.

◇“Robbing Peter to pay Paul” has its limits… Funding must be increased
Experts point out that to increase investment in training specialized personnel, it is necessary not only to improve the allocation structure of existing budgets but also to expand overall funding. This is because a “robbing Peter to pay Paul” approach—merely adjusting allocations among individual projects within a limited budget—makes it difficult to sustain the investment needed to strengthen the industry’s competitiveness. To address this, advocates argue that the financial foundation of the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund must first be strengthened.
Based on the 2026 government budget proposal, the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund covers more than 80% of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s budget for tourism and MICE. The outbound travel levy, which the government is pushing to increase, is one of the fund’s primary sources of revenue.
Ha Hong-guk, Secretary General of the MICE Association, emphasized, “To revitalize the MICE industry, we must expand the scope of training beyond new hires and current employees to include representatives from associations, academic societies, and companies,” adding, “We need to increase the departure tax—one of the fund’s main sources of revenue—to boost investment in the industry’s foundation, such as workforce development.” As of June of this year, there were 17,029 associations and organizations registered with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and 2,741 academic societies that publish journals listed in the KCI (Korean Citation Index) and hold regular academic conferences.
There are also calls to improve the methods and criteria for providing operating loan support from the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund to registered international conference businesses. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, only 23 international conference companies received operating loans from the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund last year, with support of up to 3 billion won. This represents just 1.3% of the 1,738 businesses registered in the international conference industry during the same period.
The CEO of a convention planning firm stated, “I applied for a loan several times but couldn’t meet the financial institutions’ requirements, so I eventually gave up,” adding, “There is a need to improve the loan support methods and criteria to reflect the industry’s characteristics, such as a lack of collateral and high labor costs.”