Gangwon Province and IBK Sign Tourism Pact: Swipe Your Card for Accommodation Discounts and Points

【Financial News, Chuncheon = Kim Gi-seop】Gangwon Province is joining forces with Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) to attract tourists and boost local spending, following a tourism and finance cooperation agreement that offers accommodation discounts and card-point benefits.
Gangwon Province said on the 2nd that Governor Woo Sang-ho and Jang Min-young, president of Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), signed the agreement that day at the bank’s Seoul headquarters. The two institutions will combine Gangwon Province’s tourism resources with the bank’s financial and marketing capabilities to expand customer benefits linked to tourism in the province, and will jointly pursue promotions, publicity and marketing.
The agreement’s first initiative is the “Go to Gangwon, Swipe Your IBK Card!” promotion, which the two institutions have been running together since September. Visitors to Gangwon Province receive accommodation discounts and earn card points when they pay with an IBK card at travel destinations. The province expects the promotion to attract at least 30,000 tourists and bring more than 5 billion won in tourism spending into the local economy.
After the signing ceremony, the “Preview of Gangwon’s Winter Travel” promotional campaign continued at the outdoor event venue at the bank’s headquarters. Tourism attractions and locally specialized products from 18 cities and counties were presented to office workers and residents of Seoul, and the heads of the two institutions joined in a partnership performance titled “Unfolding Gangwon’s Winter” to showcase the appeal of winter tourism.
Governor Woo Sang-ho said, “The challenge ahead is not just to increase the number of tourists, but to get them to stay longer in Gangwon Province and spend money. We will broaden our cooperation with the bank so that benefits such as accommodation discounts and card points go to tourists, and their spending in turn boosts sales for local small businesses.”

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter