{"id":777045699,"date":"2026-08-03T08:25:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777045699"},"modified":"2026-08-03T08:25:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:25:41","slug":"south-koreas-tourism-industry-reiterates-opposition-to-proposed-casino-levy-increase-and-licence-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/south-koreas-tourism-industry-reiterates-opposition-to-proposed-casino-levy-increase-and-licence-reform","title":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s tourism industry reiterates opposition to proposed casino levy increase and licence reform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Twelve tourism organisations have urged the government to withdraw plans to raise casino contributions to the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund and introduce five-year licence renewals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

South Korea.- Opposition is growing to the South Korean government’s proposal to increase the maximum casino levy contributions<\/a> to the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund and introduce a five-year casino licence renewal system. A joint statement has been issued by 12 organisations, including the Korea Casino Association, the Korea Tourism Association, the Korea Hotel Association and the Korea Association of Travel Agents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The groups called on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to withdraw the proposed reforms, arguing they would place additional pressure on an industry that is still recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The organisations also criticised the proposal to renew casino licences every five years, arguing that frequent licence reviews create a source of uncertainty that could discourage new investment and foreign capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the government’s proposal, the maximum contribution rate paid by casino operators to the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund would increase from 10 per cent to 15 per cent of revenue. Industry representatives note that since the levy is based on revenue rather than profit, operators must continue making payments even when they report losses. They noted that around half of South Korea\u2019s casino operators have recorded operating losses over the past decade, with smaller businesses expected to be the most affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The industry also warned that harsher domestic conditions could weaken South Korea\u2019s position against neighbouring markets such as Macau, Singapore, the Philippines and soon Japan by reducing profitability and making the country less attractive for investment.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> South Korea considers raising casino tourism levy<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twelve tourism organisations have urged the government to withdraw plans to raise casino contributions to the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund and introduce five-year licence renewals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"South Korean tourism organizations are opposing government proposals to increase casino contributions to the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund from 10% to 15% of revenue and introduce five-year licence renewals. Industry stakeholders argue these reforms would hinder post-pandemic recovery, deter foreign investment due to increased operational costs and regulatory uncertainty, and weaken the nation's competitive standing against regional gaming hubs.","focusai_entities":"Korea Casino Association, Korea Tourism Association, Korea Hotel Association, Korea Association of Travel Agents, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism","focusai_location":"South Korea, Macau, Singapore, Philippines, Japan","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.85), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (0.98), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Levy Impact Analysis","query":"What specific financial models and sensitivity analyses have the opposing organizations presented to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to quantify the projected impact of a 15% GGR levy on operator EBITDA and long-term capital expenditure plans?"},{"label":"Investment Climate Risk","query":"How might the proposed five-year licence renewal cycle, coupled with increased fiscal obligations, alter the risk-adjusted return on investment calculations for potential foreign direct investment in South Korea's integrated resort sector, particularly compared to emerging markets like Japan?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16338],"tags":[25370,152,2895],"class_list":["post-777045699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-casino-news","category-east-asia-news","tag-casinos-in-south-korea","tag-south-korea","tag-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777045699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777045699"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777045699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777045703,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777045699\/revisions\/777045703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777045699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777045699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777045699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}