S. Korean gov't to provide discount coupons in 8 fields to boost consumption

홍남기 "7월 말부터 1800만명에 소비쿠폰…1조 소비촉진"Some big discounts will be available starting Thursday.The South Korean government are giving out discount coupons to boost domestic consumption and help industries that have been suffering from the COVID-19 outbreak.Eum Ji-young has the details.Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, at a ministerial meeting on Thursday, announced the government's coupon plans aimed at boosting spending and revitalizing regional economies.The government is providing a limited number of discount coupons in 8 fields.For the lodging sector the coupon will provide discounts of up to 33 U.S. dollars for online reservations.Coupons for tourism also give 30 percent off advance bookings for designated local destinations.Concert tickets have a seven dollar discount if bought online.And movie tickets have a five dollar discount.People buying art gallery and museum tickets online can get up to a 2-dollar-50-cent discount.And people who spend at least 16 dollars on a restaurant meal at least five times on the weekends can receive up to 8 dollars back.The discounts will be issued from around the newly-designated national holiday on August 17th.There are also discounts for farm and fishery products, which begin this Thursday, and can also be purchased through mobile apps."For all locally produced farm and fishery products, we provide a 20 percent discount. There's no limit to the number of purchases but the discount is up to 10-thousand Korean won.""I think the coupons are very valuable in financially difficult times like now"The government plans to distribute coupons to 18 million people and expects to bring about 837 million U.S. dollars of spending through the discount coupons.It will also issue more local gift vouchers from the third supplementary budget passed in response to pandemic.Eum Ji-young, Arirang News.