S. Korea to distribute 2.1M cultural discount vouchers

Poster for cultural discount vouchers (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is distributing 2.1 million discount vouchers for performances and exhibitions starting Friday, to boost cultural spending and support the local arts sector.

The initiative, funded by a 10 billion won ($7.3 million) supplementary budget, includes 500,000 vouchers for performances and 1.6 million for exhibitions. Applications will be accepted online through five ticketing platforms — Nol Interpark, Melon Ticket, Time Ticket, TicketLink and Yes24 — beginning at 10 a.m. Friday. Each user may claim up to two vouchers per platform on a first-come, first-served basis.

Performance vouchers offer a 10,000 won discount per ticket, while exhibition vouchers provide 3,000 won off. To prevent no-shows, a minimum purchase amount applies: 15,000 won for performances and 5,000 won for exhibitions.

Vouchers can be used until Sep. 19 for events scheduled through Nov. 30.

Eligible performances include theater, musicals, classical music, Korean traditional music and dance. Pop concerts and commercial dance events are excluded. Exhibition discounts apply to visual arts events held at public and private art museums, art fairs and biennales, excluding industrial expos.

An additional two vouchers will be available via Time Ticket for performances and exhibitions held outside the Seoul metropolitan area to encourage regional participation.