The Gyeonggi-do plans to pay up to 3 million won each to around 500 tourism business facing difficulty due to COVID-19 to ease their burden in monthly rent as part of the plan to provide support for small business owners.

Under the plan, it was received applications for the support money through the website of the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization (GTO) designated for the purpose (ggwithyou.com) until October 22, 6:00 PM.

Those eligible to apply are those registered as a tourism business with the National Tax Service (NTS) by the end of last year and those operating as of October 7 and whose daily average sales in the first half of this year dropped compared to 2019 and 2020. 

Those that received support money from the Gyeonggi-do Office through the program for the invigoration of tourism industry suffering from COVID-19 in the first half of the year may not apply.

Those owning a business space or leasing a space through jeonse(lease on a deposit basis) are also not eligible.

Those who have been subjected to more than 10 days’ business suspension or fine corresponding to it under the Tourism Promotion Act since January 1, 2019 may not apply as well. A travel agency engaging in domestic/foreign tourism may only apply as one business.

Those eligible for the support money will be selected in order of the percentage of reduction in daily average sales in the first half of this year compared to 2019 and 2020 within the available budget amount. 

The notice of the list of those selected for the support money will be posted at the GTO’s relevant homepage after November 1, and the support money will be paid starting early November.

For more details concerning the conditions for application and documents to be submitted, please check the notice posted at the website of the Gyeonggi-do Office (gg.go.kr), GTO (gto.or.kr), or Gyeonggi Tourism Association (gta.or.kr).

 “We’ve decided to carry out another support program for tourism businesses as in the first half of the year in connection with the need to help them stay afloat amid the COVID-19 situation,” said Director General Kim Jin-gi of the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Bureau of the Gyeonggi-do Office.

In the first half this year, the Gyeonggi Province paid up to 3 million won each to 335 local tourism businesses under a similar program.