Forum on departure tax reform draws consensus from industry, government and academia on expanding tourism fund
Rep. Cho Gye-won of the Democratic Party of Korea, who represents Yeosu-eul in South Jeolla Province and sits on the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, said Monday he hosted a forum at the National Assembly titled "Why Now for Departure Tax Reform? Hearing from the Field."
The forum was organized to gather unfiltered views from the front lines of the tourism industry on revitalizing stagnant regional tourism ecosystems and expanding the tourism fund. Academics, industry experts and government officials attended, sharing the challenges facing the sector and discussing concrete fiscal support measures to secure the long-term sustainability of South Korea's tourism finances.
In his opening remarks, Cho said the Lee Jae-myung administration is pursuing a goal of attracting 30 million foreign tourists by 2030, but warned that "a goal without solid funding is no more than a house of cards." He added that expanding the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund can no longer be delayed, calling it an urgent task to revive regional tourism and halt the decline of local communities.
Cho said the social and policy conditions for reform are already ripe and that the time for change has come. "The funds secured through departure tax reform will flow directly back to those of you on the front lines of the tourism industry, and serve as seed money to breathe life back into regional tourism," he said.
He added that it is his firm conviction that "the tourism industry lives or dies with what happens on the ground," and pledged to devote all his efforts to swift legislation and regulatory reform in his capacity as a member of the Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee and the lawmaker who introduced the bill.
The forum was co-hosted by Cho and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and organized by the Korea Tourism Association, the Korean Academic Society of Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization.
The event opened with a presentation by Ryu Gwang-hun, a researcher at the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, followed by remarks from Korea Tourism Association President Lee Gyeong-su, Korea Hotel Business Association President Yu Yong-jong, Korea Travel Agency Association Senior Vice President Hwang Jun-seok, Korean Academic Society of Tourism Senior Vice President Jo Gwang-ik and Korea Tourism Organization President Park Seong-hyeok, all of whom offered firsthand accounts and proposals from the field. Kang Dong-jin, director of tourism policy at the Culture Ministry, attended on behalf of the government and listened to recommendations on regulatory reform.
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