Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo and President Choi Moon-suk of “GC Company” attend a ceremony in which the provincial government signed an MOU with the nation’s representative comprehensive lodging/activity reservation platform “GC Company” to boost the province’s tourism industry at KTO’s Seoul Center on May 29.

Gyeongsangbuk-do is rolling up its sleeves to attract Korean tourists to the province as it recovers from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The provincial government plans to reinvigorate the regional economy by attracting Korean tourists during summer as people are forecast to travel to domestic tourist sites instead of overseas counterparts due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, which is still affecting many countries.

Considering the current situation effectively ruling out massive tourism promotions due to intermittent cluster contagions of COVID-19, Gyeongsangbuk-do is focusing on publicizing the province’s tourism resources’ attractions via mobile platforms and supporting workers’ summer vacations.

Gyeongsangbuk-do singed an MOU with the nation’s representative comprehensive lodging/activity reservation platform “GC Company” to boost the province’s tourism industry. Under the deal, the provincial government will introduce the province’s tourism resources and issue discount coupons to attract tourists via the platform.

The agreement provides for a 15 percent discount that can be used at 1,291 hotels, resorts, and other accommodations facilities registered with the platform, as well as 160 activities tourism sites, including Gyeongju World, a theme park in Gyeongju, and Mungyeong ecoRala.

Originally, Gyeongbuk Tourism Grandsale, a massive online and offline promotion event, was scheduled to take place, but it has been scaled down to online and mobile promotion only since the alert against the spread of COVID-19 cannot be lowered.

Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo holds a meeting with tourism experts to find new paths in the tourism industry of the province on April 29. (Photos: Gyeongsangbuk-do)

As a result, the provincial government is conducting special viral tourism promotion marketing activities to introduce the province’s tourism destinations on top of discount events of the platform.

“Since a discount rate is specified, but no cap on the maximum discount amounts is given, tourists will feel greater benefits,” a Gyeongsangbuk-do official said. The provincial government is also conducting a “Clean & Safe Gyeongbuk Campaign” to insure hygiene and infection of accommodations in the provincial area.

Gyeongsangbuk-do expand the mobile marketing of “Gyeongbuk Tour e-Commerce Tourism Products,” reflecting mobile and individuals’ tour trends.

Cities and counties have joined in selling joint tourism products in keeping with a tourism paradigm shift in which group tours are replaced with individual tours, and private cars are used instead of mass transportation means.