These canola flower fields and Deungnyang Bay are in the Seonhak-dong neighborhood of the township of Hoejin-myeon in Jangheung-gun County, Jeollanam-do Province. (Jangheung-gun Office).

By Yoo Yeon Gyeong

A program that reimburses travelers for half of their expenses when touring rural and fishing villages across the country from late this month will be rolled out in phases in nine regions.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) on Aug. 27 announced their selections of Hwacheon-gun County, Gangwon-do Province; the counties of Goseong-gun, Sancheong-gun and Hamyang-gun in Gyeongsangnam-do Province; Andong and Yeongcheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province; the counties of Seocheon-gun and Taean-gun, Chungcheongnam-do Province; and Jangheung-gun County, Jeollanam-do Province.

The discount applies in the second half of the year in these regions under the program's Regional Love Vacation Support.

Visitors to depopulated rural and fishing villages are reimbursed through Regional Love mobile gift certificates. General users can get up to KRW 100,000 in such vouchers and young travelers a maximum of KRW 140,000.

In the first half of the year, the combined rebate value of KRW 5.2 billion allocated to the 16 participating regions led to at least KRW 16.2 billion worth of consumption in those areas. Among the participants, 31.2% reported going on unplanned trips due to the program, while half said they changed their travel destinations to a related region.

More information on the program is on the Visit Korea website (visitkorea.or.kr).

dusrud21@korea.kr