South Korea puts tourism strategy under presidential coordination
South Korea’s Cabinet has approved a reorganisation of the National Tourism Strategy Council that places the body under the President and broadens its membership across government. The revised framework was approved on 20 October and is due to take effect on 29 October; it is not yet in force.
The change follows an April amendment to the Framework Act on Tourism, which shifted the council’s chairmanship from the Prime Minister to the President. The October regulation sets out how the reorganised body will operate. It will bring together the heads of 15 ministries and the senior presidential secretary responsible for tourism policy, giving the council a wider formal remit for coordinating policies that affect tourism.
Two ministries are being added to the ministerial line-up: Trade, Industry and Resources, whose responsibilities include the exhibition sector connected with meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, and Employment and Labour, which oversees workforce development and jobs. The change brings those subjects into the same coordinating structure as tourism policy. The revised membership also removes the Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, reflecting the council’s move from the Prime Minister’s authority to the President’s.
New routes for coordination and local input
The regulation changes the council’s working arrangements as well as its membership. The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism will become its secretary, replacing the ministry’s Second Vice Minister. A working-level coordination committee will take the place of the previous vice-ministerial committee and will be chaired by the senior presidential secretary for tourism policy. It is intended to prepare issues for the main council and improve coordination between ministries before they reach ministerial discussion.
The framework also establishes a route for outside expertise. The culture minister may appoint up to 20 tourism policy and industry specialists to an advisory group. Its potential areas of advice include inbound visitors, regional tourism, tourism infrastructure and the tourism industry. This is a formal opportunity for expert input; the regulation does not itself specify who will be appointed or what recommendations the group will make.
A separate Regional Tourism Promotion Council is to gather views from local government. Chaired by the culture ministry’s Second Vice Minister, it will include deputy heads of metropolitan and provincial governments and discuss items for submission to the national council. The arrangement creates a defined channel for regional perspectives, but it does not transfer the national council’s decision-making role to local authorities.
The new framework also expressly covers tourism promotion plans and evaluation of their implementation. Results are intended to feed into later plans, creating a cycle in which government can review delivery as well as coordinate policy design. The detailed announcement does not set out performance indicators or report results from this system, which has yet to take effect.
From policy coordination to delivery review
The council is expected to convene twice a year as a rule. Its revised scope includes major tourism promotion policies and inter-ministerial disputes, alongside assessing plans and using implementation findings in follow-up planning. That combination places tourism alongside employment, industry and regional development questions in a recurring national forum rather than limiting discussion to the tourism ministry alone.
Approval of the regulation is a concrete administrative step, but it should be distinguished from evidence that the restructuring has already improved outcomes. The framework provides membership, coordination and consultation mechanisms; the practical test will come after it takes effect, when appointments are made, meetings are held and implementation reviews produce results. For now, the immediate development is the approved structure and its scheduled start on 29 October.
