The Korean government will push for various programs this year to foster the nation's meetings, incentives travel, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) sector in a bid to help stimulate the tourism industry hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak.

One of the programs is dubbed the "K-convention promotion project" aimed at better publicizing international conferences held in Korea.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) will receive applications until June 2 from domestic institutions, companies and academics as well as international organizations stationed in Korea to select beneficiaries of the program.

Participants hold a meeting with Dahlia El Gazzar, center, a 'tech evangelist' and founder of the Dahlia+ Agency, who appears as a hologram image on a monitor, during the Korea Tourism Organization's MICE conference held in Suwon Convention Center, Gyeonggi Province, Dec. 5. / Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization

A poster for the K-convention promotion project run by the Korea Tourism Organization / Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization

International conferences that are scheduled to take place between July this year and February next year are eligible to participate in the program.

The KTO said the program has been designed to nurture promising international conferences on diverse topics, including the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Korean Wave, or "hallyu" in Korean, and the nation's advanced disease control system that has drawn international attention amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program will contribute to boosting the country's global image and achieving the quality growth of the MICE industry, the organization said.

The KTO plans to choose about six international conferences as the beneficiaries of the program.

Each beneficiary will be offered up to 150 million won ($123,000) in addition to government support in establishing strategies, brand development and overseas promotion.

The government is also running another program aimed at developing regional events into global ones by attracting more foreign visitors.

Regional events related to culture and art, leisure activities and technologies that are scheduled to take place in the latter half of the year can also be beneficiaries.

The government will choose five regional events and offer up to 100 million won.

"Korea has held a variety of international conferences, but many of the events are unknown around the world," a KTO official said. "We will work to boost international conventions held in Korea as well as regional events to nurture the nation's MICE industry further."

In another program, the ministry and the KTO are looking to develop so-called meeting technologies to advance the MICE sector and lead the growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The KTO said meeting technologies refer to artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, the internet of things and many other information and communication technologies that can be applied to the MICE sector.

The organization has selected seven international conventions, scheduled to take place in Korea between June this year and March next year, which will promote those technologies.

The seven beneficiaries will be also offered 140 million won.

"Meeting technologies have not been widely used in Korea. We will help local governments and other institutions that host international conferences make the best use of the technologies through consistent education and promotion," the KTO official said.

In a bid to increase understanding of the technologies, the KTO showcased AI robots and hologram videos during its MICE conference held in December last year.