South Gyeongsang Province is launching a customized tourism service that incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and data technology.
The province announced Wednesday that it has secured 1 billion won in state funds after being selected for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's (MOLIT) "2026 Smart City Data Hub Pilot Solution Discovery Project." The achievement follows the "Gyeongnam Data Hub," which invested 1.5 billion won last year to build services such as emergency patient transport and closed-circuit television (CCTV) intensive monitoring.
The province explained that it presented a plan to effectively link various tourism data dispersed across the existing data hub and incorporate AI-based services, which the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport highly evaluated. A data hub is a core system that gathers data scattered across multiple locations into one place to manage and share it systematically.
The task to be fully pursued this time is "building an integrated Gyeongnam AI tourism platform based on the data hub." The core is realizing "AI-based customized smart tourism" that reflects tourists' preferences and travel conditions in real time.
Once the integrated platform is complete, AI will analyze tourists' preferences to recommend optimal travel courses. It will also analyze real-time congestion to guide efficient travel routes that avoid traffic jams or crowding. For digitally disadvantaged groups such as the elderly who find it difficult to operate smart devices, voice AI services and an AI chatbot will also be installed. The province plans to enable easy access to customized tourism information with a single word, without complex searches.
The province expects the platform to increase tourists' length of stay and expand the living population that remains in the region. It also anticipated that the platform will serve as a catalyst to breathe vitality into stagnant local commercial districts, contributing to creating a "Gyeongnam where people want to live, visit, and stay."
The province plans to sign an official agreement with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport next month, begin development, and provide the service starting next July.
"We will do our best to seamlessly connect scattered regional data so that anyone can fully enjoy the benefits of a smart city in their daily lives," said Kim Ki-young, head of the Gyeongnam Province Planning and Coordination Office.
