KT Group to invest total of 22.5 billion won in Jeju Island giga infrastructure including wireless LAN and beacons

Korea's top tourism destination, Jeju Island, will soon be transformed into a 'smart tourism island' equipped with world-class giga infrastructure. This is expected to increase foreign tourists visiting Jeju Island and revitalize the local economy of the Jeju region.

KT and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province announced on the 12th that they have signed a business agreement for 'constructing a smart tourism island in Jeju.' KT has been presenting future tourism business models based on its expertise in giga IoT and infrastructure construction in Jeju Island.

Under this agreement, KT Group plans to invest a total of 22.5 billion won to build smart tourism island infrastructure and contribute to increasing foreign tourists to the Jeju region and enhancing actual income for residents.

Expansion of tourist convenience through construction of over 1,100 free giga Wi-Fi networks

KT will invest 14.3 billion won over five years to provide network services based on giga infrastructure including 'giga Wi-Fi,' 'giga internet,' and 'giga beacon.' As a result, over 1,100 giga Wi-Fi networks will be built at major tourist attractions and public places for tourists to use free of charge. Group subsidiaries including BC Card and KTH will also invest 8.2 billion won, pooling resources across the entire KT Group.

Additionally, KT will jointly build a smart tourism platform based on Geographic Information System (GIS) with group companies BC Card, KTH, and KT IS. The smart tourism platform is expected to help formulate tourism policies through analysis of consumption patterns using big data of tourists, and to contribute to foreign tourists more easily enjoying benefits such as tax refunds.

Governor Won Hee-ryong has pledged since taking office to expand the attraction of Chinese tourists by promoting free Wi-Fi distribution and fostering smart tourism industries for future growth. This business agreement was conducted as part of the future tourism projects that Jeju Island has been pursuing.

Despite the large number of Chinese visitors to Jeju Island, most are group tourists, and consumption has been concentrated in shops and accommodations funded by Chinese capital within the region. Accordingly, Jeju Island has faced difficulties in translating increased Chinese tourists into expanded local resident income. However, once the smart tourism island is constructed, individual Chinese tourists are expected to increase, which is forecast to provide significant benefits to tourism industry development.

Chinese tourists' spending in Jeju Island expected to more than double over five years

Jeju Island expects that over the five years of smart tourism island construction, Chinese tourists' spending will increase more than twofold (2015: 660 billion won → 2020: 1.391 trillion won). The province projected that real income of Jeju Island residents will increase by a total of 356 billion won.

KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu stated, "Once the smart tourism island is constructed, language barriers and lack of information that foreigners experience when visiting Korea will be resolved, and we expect even more foreign tourists will visit Jeju Island. KT will spare no effort in group-level support so that Jeju Island can evolve from Korea's number one travel destination to Korea's 'treasure island for travel.'"

In response, Jeju Island Governor Won Hee-ryong stated, "Based on organic cooperation with KT, we plan to create a smart island where nature, culture, and people coexist and provide diverse customized services utilizing the latest ICT (information and communications technology)."