KRW 6.1 billion for regional tourism ideas; 13 local governments to receive support
- Input
- 2026-10-05 12:00:00
- Updated
- 2026-10-05 12:00:00
MCST said on the 5th that it and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) had finalized the amount of special local grant tax to be awarded to the winning local governments in the “Rising Stars of Korean Tourism” regional tourism innovation ideas competition.
The competition is the first project of the Regional Tourism Policy Council, which was launched in July. Applications from local governments nationwide will be accepted through the 20th.
The four competition categories are tourism product innovation, promoting tourism spending, restoring trust in tourism, and tourism income villages.
Among metropolitan local governments, one Grand Prize winner and two Top Excellence Award winners will be selected. Among basic local governments, one Grand Prize winner, two Top Excellence Award winners, and seven Excellence Award winners will be chosen. The special local grant tax will be distributed at different amounts.
Basic local governments account for approximately 77% of all selected recipients. The competition focuses on identifying a broad range of tourism ideas that can be applied in cities, counties and districts, alongside policies at the metropolitan-government level.
MCST will conduct evaluations from late this month through early December, select the winning local governments and hold an awards ceremony in December. Outstanding projects will advance to the final round of the 2027 “Tourism Star” competition.
Kang Jeong-won, head of MCST’s Tourism Policy Office, said, “We are placing policy emphasis on boldly expanding the flow of tourism, which is concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, to regions. We hope the tourism policy ideas of the local governments selected in this competition will become innovations that help regions and the country grow together.”
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