Support center for Korean startups opens in Tokyo

A new support center for Korean tourism startups opened Tuesday in Tokyo's Shibuya District, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).

The new establishment is one of Korea's Tourism Business Support Centers, which are government-funded offices located outside the country that strive to support Korean tourism-related startups by providing them with meeting rooms as well as business connections, market research and promotion.

Tokyo's is the second such center; the first opened in Singapore last August.

It is set to support 15 ventures including Nuua, Stayfolio and Tripbtoz.

The Culture Ministry and KTO will also host a B2B networking event at Tokyo's New Otani Hotel on Tuesday, in celebration of the opening. Some 150 people from various industries are slated to attend, including the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo, Asiana Airlines, Japan National Tourism Organization and Shinhan Bank Japan. The 15 Korean ventures supported by the Tourism Business Support Center will give overviews of their companies and hold one-on-one meetings with major Japanese businesspeople.

Yong Ho-seong, director-general of the Culture Ministry's Tourism Policy Bureau, said that his organization plans to open 10 Tourism Business Support Centers by 2027.

“We plan to strengthen our technological convergence and actively support the global growth of domestic tourism ventures.”

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]