Abstract
Interests in tourism and leisure have increased with the quality of life in Korea. The government takes the lead in development of tourism for balanced development between regions and local governments use development of tourism as a means for vitalization of local economy. The sustainable and eco-friendly development plan is required for the tourism development, because it needs effective use of limited natural resources and consideration of environmental capacity in the region. This study analyzed the trend of tourism development during nine years, and problems with respect to planning and environment aspects on the basis of four examples which follow recent development trend. We suggest improvement plan that 1) establishment of consistency and systematics of tourism development, 2) enforcement of setting up regional tourism development plan, 3) comprehensive and systematic plan establishment in consideration of private sector, 4) reasonable adjustment and environmental management for development project of approval organization, 5) removal of duplicate regulations for development project. Application of the improvement plan while setting up tourism plan could contribute to vitalization of local economy, and environmental preservation and management.