South Gyeongsang Province is rolling out a combined dining and accommodation campaign to help Tongyeong and Geoje recover from flood damage, backed by fully state-funded lodging discount vouchers and a gourmet tour pass program.
South Gyeongsang Province has launched a large-scale campaign combining food and lodging benefits to revive tourism in Tongyeong and Geoje, two coastal cities still recovering from flood damage. The initiative, which secured full central government funding, is expected to serve as a catalyst for the local economy.
The provincial government and the South Gyeongsang Tourism Foundation announced Tuesday they are pushing ahead with the "South Gyeongsang Gourmet Stay Campaign" to restore the tourism image of Tongyeong and Geoje — both designated special disaster zones — and help local businesses recover. Built around the theme "Taste South Gyeongsang, Rest in Tongyeong and Geoje," the campaign pairs a dining voucher program called the South Gyeongsang Gourmet Road Tour Pass with lodging discount vouchers for the two cities, aiming to encourage longer stays.
The lodging voucher program was initially expected to be funded through a mix of central and local government money. South Gyeongsang Province, however, repeatedly pressed the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to recognize the exceptional circumstances of the flood-hit region. After sustained lobbying for full central government funding and consultations with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the project was ultimately confirmed as 100 percent nationally funded.
More than 4,000 lodging discount vouchers secured through those efforts will begin distribution Monday.
The campaign focuses on extending tourists' stays by combining dining support with accommodation benefits.
The fourth special round of the South Gyeongsang Gourmet Road Tour Pass — open to visitors from outside the province — offers meal vouchers worth up to 110,000 won usable at affiliated Biple Pay merchants, drawing travelers into local commercial districts. Lodging discount vouchers for Tongyeong and Geoje, distributed at the same time, provide discounts of 30,000 to 50,000 won for single-night stays and 70,000 to 90,000 won for multi-night packages.
The provincial tourism policy division said that based on an analysis of the government's existing regional holiday support program, each voucher attracts an average of 2.2 travel companions and generates average trip spending of 521,000 won per voucher. "We expect the lodging voucher distribution to bring around 8,000 visitors to Tongyeong and Geoje, generating a direct consumer spending effect of up to 2 billion won ($1.49 million) in the region," the division said.
While the gourmet tour pass supports culinary travel across the entire province, the lodging vouchers are designed to drive overnight stays specifically in Tongyeong and Geoje — a combination the province expects to produce strong synergy between the two programs.
A range of additional programs drawing on tourism infrastructure in both cities will run in November and December. These include the Tongyeong Tour Pass and the Geoje Yaho Tour Pass, operated by the respective city governments, as well as a Heungnam Withdrawal historical tourism package offering a 20 percent discount on admission to Geoje Sea World and discounts of 3,000 to 5,000 won on the Panorama Cable Car.
Outreach marketing will also run in parallel, including a South Gyeongsang tourism promotional briefing at the South Gyeongsang Welcome Center in Bukchon, Seoul, from Saturday through Monday, aimed at drawing visitors from outside the province.
Kim Sang-won, director of the provincial tourism development bureau, said he hopes the campaign "breathes warm energy into the local economies of Tongyeong and Geoje as they rise above the wounds left by the floods." Kim added that the province intends to establish the initiative as a successful model for extended-stay tourism that delivers meaningful benefits and lasting memories to visitors.
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