Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launches tourism development performance management, tightens subsidy application requirements

[Financial News] Performance evaluations will be introduced for local government tourism development projects, and requirements for applying for national government subsidies will be tightened. Local governments will also be able to receive expert consulting from the planning stage through completion of a project.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 29th, the amended Tourism Promotion Act and its Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules, which contain these measures, take effect today. The aim is to address repeated under-execution of budgets for tourism development projects and improve the efficiency of fiscal investment.
To promote locally led tourism development, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shifted budget planning for regional tourism development projects to a system that gives local governments autonomy, starting this year. However, after the National Assembly and others pointed out poor execution of tourism development subsidy projects, the ministry decided to strengthen performance management.
Under the amended Enforcement Rules, local governments must submit documents on securing land for a project and the results of the local government fiscal investment review when applying for national government subsidies.
The amended act, promulgated last April 28, allows the performance of local government subsidy-supported projects to be evaluated and a comprehensive tourism development information system to be established and operated. It also provides a basis for consulting and training support to prevent project delays and help ensure efficient operations.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism may request from local governments the materials needed for performance evaluations and for establishing and operating the information system. A local government head who receives such a request must submit the materials unless there is a legitimate reason not to.
Requirements have also been established for designating a dedicated performance management agency. It must be a public institution or nonprofit corporation and have a dedicated team and professional staff to carry out performance management, among other things.
Kang Jeong-won, director general of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Tourism Policy Office, said, “Curbing overly ambitious project implementation will improve the efficiency of fiscal investment,” and added, “We will promptly designate a dedicated performance management agency within this year to help the system take root.”
[email protected] Jang In-seo Reporter