On Feb. 22, Incheon City officials met with ITO employees and discussed major work plans for 2022 and pending issues at the headquarters of the Incheon Tourism Organization (ITO) .
Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun praised employees of the ITO, selected as the best company in management evaluations for two years running by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security in 2021.
Park also listened to the ITO’s plans to support the tourism industry to overcome the COVID-19 crisis, increase its future competitiveness by improving Incheon tourism infrastructure and systems, create demand for high value-added tourism and strengthen the city’s urban brand.
The ITO plans to continue to support direct damage and develop stay-type tourism products that can promote local consumption for the tourism industry, which is difficult due to the continuation of COVID-19.
In addition, while striving to enhance the competitiveness of the tourism industry, such as upgrading smart tourism services, creating a barrier-free tourism environment, and developing eco-friendly contents. Various projects such as MICE, medical, and wellness are planned to recover high value-added tourism demand.
Furthermore, the ITO plans to take the lead in creating eco-friendly workplaces and social contribution activities to fulfill its responsibilities for the environment and society as a public company.
The ITO will establish a preemptive safety and health management system for major facilities for citizens’ safety run by the ITO.
“The growth of the tourism industry due to people’s return to normal live after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to offer a great opportunity to our Incheon city in terms of tourism,” Park said in a business report on that day.
Incheon City and the ITO will work hard to help Incheon grow into a world-class tourist city, with various achievements such as the regeneration of the port and the creation of waterfront space, transportation services for island residents and travelers, environment improvements, history, cultures and natural heritages and the creation of an urban environment where the future and the past are harmonized.
Meanwhile, the Incheon Tourism Business Support Center at the ITO created 163 tourism jobs and helped 37 startups grow through support for start-ups in the tourism and MICE industries last year.
In addition, the center said it posted 4.1 billion won in sales, attracted 3.7 billion won in investment, and trained 497 tourism experts.
The center focused on discovering and fostering tourism startups in 2021. But beginning from this year, it plans to run a step-by-step support program tailored to the growth of startups.
It is expected to become a growth hub for the Incheon tourism industry through its AtoZ Support Program which puts businesses on track after passing the foundation and growth stages.
The center is an institution run by the ITO with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the ITO.
Since its opening in September 2020, it has been solidifying its position as a startup support organization that supports startups and companies in the tourism sector and creates tourism jobs in Incheon.
In order to create an ecosystem for the foundation of tourism startups, it has helped them settle down by discovering startups, offering consulting on education and management and establishing networks with startups and is promoting support for the normalization and revitalization of the existing tourism industry, which has been hit by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.
ITO promotes various projects in order to provide visitors with comfortable and pleasant tourism experiences through high-quality services.
On the other hand, it contributes to improving the citizens’ quality of life by developing the local economy through tourism.
ITO’s projects are focused on the attraction of local and foreign tourists and development of tourism resources.
ITO employees will make every effort to develop Incheon into a center of convergence and international tourism in Asia, and a city that everyone wants to visit, the ITO said.
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