GANGJIN — Traveling to Gangjin County in South Jeolla Province, the originator of South Korea's half-price travel programs, is getting cheaper again. The county is spending 2 billion won ($1.4 million) in state funds to restart its "Gangjin Half-Price Travel" program, aiming to draw visitors during the autumn festival season and lift spending at local businesses.
The program is funded by 2 billion won in central government money secured under this year's plan for the fund to counter regional depopulation, the county said on the 20th.
The restart comes just ahead of the 11th Gangjin Bay Dancing Reeds Festival, which runs from the 24th through Nov. 1, and is expected to help bring in visitors. Tourists heading to Gangjin this fall will travel at a lighter cost, while local merchants can expect a pickup in sales.
Applications are open for trips through Nov. 30. Applications for December travel will open separately at a later date. Those traveling through November will be covered by the existing program terms, with no changes. Revised rules will apply to December applications onward.
The focus is on easing the concentration of spending and widening spending by visitors from outside the county. Gangjin plans to adjust how the program works so that spending does not cluster at a handful of stores and business types, and instead spreads across the entire county.
Starting in December, a cap will be placed on how much spending is recognized at each participating store. Even if a traveler spends 200,000 won or more at a single business, only up to 100,000 won will count. The county says the change is intended to reduce concentration at particular stores and push visitor spending toward a wider range of businesses.
Incentives for overnight stays and repeat visits will also grow. An additional 30,000 won will be paid out for lodging.
The limit on how many times a traveler can use the program will rise to four from two. The strategy is to turn Gangjin into a destination where visitors stay and return, rather than one they pass through once.
Incentives to visit tourist sites will be strengthened as well. The county plans to designate must-visit attractions under themes that rotate by period. Travelers will have to submit photos verifying their visits to the designated sites. The aim is to draw visitors to major attractions and outlying areas and to broaden tourism activity across the county, while limiting what officials call "cherry-picking" visits.
As before, residents of the neighboring counties of Yeongam, Haenam, Jangheung and Wando remain ineligible for the program. The restriction is meant to curb visits that claim the benefits without generating meaningful spending from outside the county.
Gangjin expects the revisions to spread visitor spending beyond the main commercial district in the county seat to restaurants, retail shops and neighborhood businesses in outlying townships. If tourism spending reaches alley-level businesses and primary industries across all 11 towns and townships in the county, officials say the foundation for a local circular economy will widen further.
The county also expects the program to work together with a basic income scheme for farming and fishing communities. The idea is to create a virtuous cycle in which spending by outside visitors revives neighborhood businesses, and residents' spending of their basic income flows back into those same businesses.
"The half-price travel program carries great significance in broadening the foundation for a local circular economy as we push ahead with basic income for farming and fishing communities," Gangjin County Mayor Kang Jin-won said. "Spending by outside visitors brought in through half-price travel can revive alley-level businesses in the townships, and residents' spending of their basic income can flow back into those same businesses, creating a virtuous cycle."