A Comparative Analysis of Korea’s and Japan’s International-Convention-City Designation Systems

Many countries recognize the importance of the MICE industry and are thus competitively and intensively promoting it as a national strategic industry (Bernini, 2009). Most of the countries that are looking to develop their respective international-convention industries are doing so by adopting the concept of “international-convention city.” Many countries use the term “international-convention city,” but only Korea and Japan have support arrangement systems under enacted legal systems (The Korea Transport Institute, 1995). In this study, the present status of Korea’s and Japan’s international-convention industries, and their international-convention-city-related laws, are compared. Korea’s support for its international-convention cities is focused on the distribution of support funds taken from its Tourism Promotion and Development Fund, and when necessary, the establishment of an organization that deals exclusively with international conventions. Korea’s support policies have the characteristics of central-government initiatives, which are different from Japan’s regional diversification of international conventions. The implications of this research for the Korean international-convention cities are suggested in this paper.