A business platform connecting the tourism ecosystem
Tourism ventures seek survival strategies in the AI era
One-on-one collaboration with local governments and large firms
New startup education program for 40 university students
A gathering designed to bring together tourism ventures, local governments and investors under one roof opens this week, aiming to foster collaboration and business expansion across the industry.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced they will hold the "2026 Tourism Business Eum Week" at Sofitel Ambassador Seoul in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Now in its sixth year, Eum Week connects tourism ventures with local governments, private companies and investors to create opportunities for inter-company cooperation and growth. This year's edition runs under the slogan "TourGather," with a focus on broadening exchanges among tourism companies and providing stage-by-stage support covering investment attraction, business collaboration and startup education.
The two-day event features a conference and demo day where tourism companies share competitiveness and growth strategies for the AI era; one-on-one business meetups with local governments, related agencies, large and mid-sized companies, and the travel industry; startup education and mentoring for university students considering entrepreneurship; investor relations pitching sessions and investment consultations to help tourism ventures attract funding; and a networking program called "Tourism Scene Talk" to facilitate collaboration within the tourism industry.
On the first day, Tuesday, an opening ceremony will be followed by a lecture on brand marketing and survival strategies for tourism ventures in the AI era. Song Gil-young, Yoo Jeong-su of Glow Seoul and Ji Hyun-jun of Vacatio will speak, sharing the competitive strengths and business strategies tourism companies need to develop.
New this year is a prospective entrepreneur program for about 40 university students, linked to the Korea Tourism Organization's future tourism talent development initiative. Through startup process education, introductions to the business models of three tourism ventures, and mentoring by "sunbae" tourism entrepreneurs, the program aims to help students at the idea stage gain firsthand exposure to how tourism companies are founded and grown, and to help them develop the viability of their own concepts.
Wednesday's program focuses heavily on investment attraction for tourism ventures. One-on-one investment consultations will be held between tourism-sector venture capital firms, accelerators and tourism ventures, alongside IR pitching sessions targeting fund-of-funds operators in collaboration with Korea Venture Investment. The Korea Tourism Organization has continued to support tourism ventures in attracting investment since signing an MOU with Korea Venture Investment in 2022, and this year it is stepping up efforts to expand practical investment opportunities through the IR pitching sessions and related activities.
"Eum Week is an important event that promotes the sustainable growth of the domestic tourism industry and supports companies with innovative ideas and technology," Korea Tourism Organization President Park Seong-hyeok said. "We will provide seamless support connecting prospective entrepreneurs' ideas through to tourism ventures' business expansion and investment attraction at each stage of growth, and we will back tourism ventures as they grow into the driving force of innovation in the industry."
terry@heraldcorp.com
