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Korea’s regional tourism policies are shifting focus toward sustaining long-term visits and local spending, following a sharp rise in domestic travel during the country’s first official May 1 Labor Day holiday, according to government and industry officials Friday. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said the number of domestic travelers on May 1 rose 55 percent from a year earlier to 11.63 million, while travel-related credit card spending increased 40 percent, from 532.2 billion won ($355 million) to 743.6 billion won. The number of travelers heading outside the Seoul metropolitan area jumped 70 percent from 4.05 million to 6.87 million, indicating that the holiday translated into stronger regional tourism demand. Tourism industry experts said the key challenge now is sustaining that momentum by connecting transportation, lodging, traditional markets and local content into an integrated tourism experience. “Simply bringing more visitors to regional areas is no longer enough,” an official from a local tourism industry said. “The policy focus is increasingly shifting to