By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
President-elect Lee Myung-bak pledged Monday his administration would make the utmost efforts to make the tourism industry resilient through deregulation and tax benefits.
Lee said the new government would work closely with leaders in the tourism businesses to transform the industry into a fast growing cash-cow.
Lee made the remarks at a meeting with tourism CEOs at his office in Seoul.
According to the Korea Tourism Association (KTA), outbound tourists number more than twice inbound travelers, standing at 6.3 million vs. 13.6 million.
The Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) said that a record number of 210,000 Koreans will make an overseas trip during the Lunar New Year holiday starting tomorrow. Korea recorded a $10 billion tourist deficit last year.
KTA Chairman Shin Joong-mok said the government-controlled tourism policy is attributable to the widening shortfall in the tourism account.
Since the tourism-related law was enacted in 1962, several different government offices have handled tourism affairs.
Industry leaders called on the government to deregulate the business. They demanded value added tax exemption, improvement of visa programs for inbound travelers, especially Chinese nationals, the bold reform of the bureaucratic Korea National Tourism Organization, and the licensing of translators.
Lee said his government considers tourism as one of the core elements of culture.
``We should not criticize outbound travelers as they go overseas in search of cheaper and better alternatives. By making the domestic tourism market attractive, we should attract as many foreign tourists as possible,'' he said.
``We can no longer ask Koreans to refrain from traveling overseas out of patriotism. Unless the government and the tourism industry makes a Copernician change in their way of thinking, we may face limits in curbing the outflow of Korean travelers,'' he added.
He cited the Dubai model. ``When I went to the Middle East, the UAE turned the desert into a tourism complex through building canals so that ships can pass through the desert. Dubai has been seeking to build a mega airport to accommodate 120 million tourists by 2015.
The participants proposed that tourism and manufacturing should be given equal weight in government policies. President-elect Lee was asked to chair a regular meeting to promote tourism once he takes an oath of office.