The Gyeonggi Tourism Organization ranked first overall among seven metropolitan and provincial tourism organizations nationwide in the Ministry of Interior and Safety's 2026 local public enterprise management evaluation — which assessed 2025 earnings — the organization announced Friday.
The organization had finished fifth in last year's evaluation but jumped four places to claim the top spot this year. Officials attributed the turnaround to strong reform efforts by management and a concerted push by all staff to overhaul the organization's operations.
Evaluators gave the organization high marks for significantly expanding its recruitment of international tourists, deepening cooperation with local governments, related public institutions and private-sector partners, improving its own revenue structure, driving AI-based operational innovation and service upgrades, and embedding safety as a core management principle under the banner of "tourism that is safe for everyone."
Among its standout achievements, the organization became the first in South Korea to introduce a free travel safety insurance service for foreign visitors and launched the "The Real Korea Gyeonggi" welcome campaign, reinforcing its image as a safe tourism destination. Those efforts directly attracted about 176,000 foreign tourists and earned the organization a ministerial commendation from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for its global marketing results.
The organization maximized project synergies through a dense cooperation network with local governments, related public institutions and private companies. It partnered with cultural tourism public institutions in the province to establish the Gyeonggi Culture Lounge, and a culture pass program developed with a major private operator drew more than 170,000 provincial residents as members within four months of its launch.
On the revenue side, the Suwon Film District was designated a national pilot zone for urban regeneration innovation, laying the groundwork for large-scale financing. Sharply higher sales at Imjingak Pyeonghwa-nuri and the Pyeonghwa-nuri campsite also contributed to financial stability.
The organization further enhanced its smart tourism services by producing and promoting tourism content directly using AI and introducing big data tools alongside an AI chatbot called HaiGT. Evaluators also praised its decision to enshrine "tourism that is safe for everyone" as an explicit management principle, making safety the top organizational priority and building robust safety networks across workplaces and tourism facilities.
fob140@heraldcorp.com
