"a round trip to baengnyeong island for 3,000 won"...incheon metropolitan government to support island fares unexpectedly

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The Incheon Metropolitan Government has come up with drastic measures to travel to and from islands such as Baengnyeong Island with city bus fares.

Starting next year, anyone in Incheon can travel back and forth for 3,000 won, and residents outside Incheon will only have to pay 26,000 won, which is 30% of the current rate.

Reporter Kang Tae-wook reports.

[Reporter]
The ship fare between Incheon and Baengnyeong Island is 158,800 won.

Currently, Incheon citizens are using it for 39,600 won, 20% of which is supported by Incheon City.

From next year, you can go back and forth to the island in Incheon at a more exceptional price.

You will be able to travel back and forth to Baengnyeongdo Island for 3,000 won, which is the level of the city bus fare.

[Yoo Jung-bok / Mayor of Incheon Metropolitan City: The basic goal is to secure Incheon's future competitiveness and achieve balanced regional development by revitalizing island areas. Currently, we believe that the most important thing is to activate visits to island areas.

Residents of other cities and provinces are also supported by paying only 50% of the current regular fare, so they can make a round trip for only 30%.

The target number of passenger ships is 16 on 14 routes connecting Incheon Island inland, including Baengnyeong, Daecheong, Yeonpyeong, and Deokjeokdo.

To this end, the Incheon Metropolitan Government will increase the passenger ship fare support budget, which was invested about 18 billion won every year, to 22 billion won.

The additional budget will be covered by Incheon City's investment of 3 billion won and Ongjin County's investment of 1 billion won.

[Moon Kyung-bok / Ongjin County Governor: If it reaches 1,500 won, the number of tourists will increase dramatically. The total budget for the passenger support project is 21.8 billion won.]

In this case, the Incheon Metropolitan Government expects the number of users to increase from 600,000 per year to 660,000.

In addition, it is expected that this will further revitalize the local economy in the long run as tourism in the island area expands.

I'm Kang Taewook of YTN.