Korea elevates national tourism council to presidential control

South Korea will place its top tourism policymaking body directly under the president and widen it to 15 ministries, the culture ministry said Tuesday.

The Cabinet approved a fully revised decree on the organization and operation of the National Tourism Strategy Council at its meeting that day, and the new rules take effect Oct. 29. The revision follows an April amendment to the Framework Act on Tourism that raised the council's chair from the prime minister to the president.

The council will be chaired by the president and include the ministers of finance, education, foreign affairs, justice, the interior, culture, agriculture, trade and industry, health, climate and environment, employment, land, oceans, SMEs and the budget office, along with the senior secretary for tourism policy in the presidential office. The industry minister and the employment minister join as new members.

The culture minister becomes secretary-general of the council, elevated from the second vice minister, while the head of the prime minister's office drops off the membership. A previously vice-ministerial coordination meeting is reorganized as a working-level body chaired by the presidential tourism secretary.

The culture minister will appoint an advisory panel of up to 20 tourism policy and industry experts, each serving a one-year term, with gender balance considered. A new Regional Tourism Promotion Council, chaired by the second vice minister and made up of deputy heads of regional governments, will discuss items before they reach the full council.

The council will also review how ministries carry out tourism promotion plans and feed the results into the next round of planning. It is to meet twice a year, once each half, unless the chair decides otherwise.

"Through the strategy council led by the president, a public-private cooperation body tailored to Korea has been established in which all ministries, the private sector and local governments join forces," Culture Minister Choe Hwi-young said. "This fully revised decree will serve as a strong policy foundation for the tourism industry, a national growth strategic industry and a breakthrough for regional decline."