OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026

Tourism plays a vital role in supporting Korea’s economic recovery. According to the TSA, the number of employees in the tourism sector has been rising since 2020, with a provisionally estimated 449 272 people employed in the sector in 2024, representing approximately 1.6% of total employment. Korea’s travel exports increased by 10.4% in nominal terms from USD 24.7 billion in 2024 to USD 27.2 billion in 2025, accounting for 18.1% of total service exports.

2025 was a year of significant growth for the tourism sector in Korea as it hosted the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting and other international events throughout its 2025 APEC host year. The total number of inbound visitors to Korea exceeded 18.9 million, up 15.7% compared to 2024. Korea’s top three inbound source markets in 2025 were the People’s Republic of China (28.9%), Japan (19.3%), and Chinese Taipei (10.0%).

The number of domestic tourists totalled 122.6 million in 2024, down 6.8% from 2023, but still up from 94 million in 2021. Meanwhile, day trips increased slightly from approximately 179.4 million in 2023 to about 181.6 million in 2024.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of the Republic of Korea (MCST) is responsible for shaping and implementing tourism policies. As of 30 December 2025, the tourism function has been elevated to a dedicated Tourism Policy Office within the Ministry, supported by a Deputy Minister responsible solely for tourism. The Tourism Policy Office is organised around two main directorates, covering tourism policy and international tourism policy. The Ministry implements tourism promotion policies aimed at improving tourism conditions and fostering the tourism industry, with support from its executive bodies, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute (KCTI).

The National Tourism Strategy Meeting is the highest decision making body responsible for planning and co-ordination of tourism policies. It was previously chaired by the Prime Minister but has recently been elevated to a Presidential-led meeting. This strategic platform facilitates the harmonisation of tourism policies across various ministries, government agencies, the tourism sector, and relevant organisations. The inclusion of representatives from the tourism sector and related organisations fosters a collaborative approach, allowing diverse perspectives to shape policy discussions. 

At the regional level, local governments, in collaboration with the Ministry, autonomously formulate and execute their tourism policies. This approach emphasises the importance of tailoring strategies to the distinctive characteristics of each region, promoting diverse tourist attractions, and developing essential tourism infrastructure. 

The 2026 tourism budget for Korea amounts to KRW 1.47 trillion, distributed across various accounts. A total budget of KRW 2 billion was allocated to the General Account, KRW 275.5 billion to the Special Account for Balanced Regional Development, and the largest amount, KRW 1.20 trillion, to the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund, which is allocated in the form of loans and subsidies. 

Tourism in Korea is guided by the 6^th Basic Plan for Tourism Promotion, which spans from 2023 to 2027, and the 4^th Basic Plan for Tourism Development, which spans from 2022 to 2031. Guided by the vision of positioning Korea as a tourism powerhouse driven by K-Culture, the Basic Plan for Tourism Promotion presents the following four major strategies:

• Promote Korea as a globally attractive tourism destination.

• Innovate the tourism industry in partnership with the field.

• Grow domestic tourism while sharing the benefits with the public.

• Revitalise regional tourism by encouraging more frequent and longer stays.

The Plan for Tourism Development provides strategies to promote an intelligent and innovative tourism industry focused on qualitative development and where people and regions grow together. It is centred around establishing sustainable tourism that co-exists with future generations.

Accessibility for tourism is being supported by improving the physical environment and fostering cultural maturity. More specifically, the Ministry has carried out the Accessible Tourism Projects to improve barriers faced by visitors. They are developed considering not only the need to enhance physical connectivity, but also the changing service needs of those with accessibility issues. The key of this initiative is to ensure that guides and information are tailored to support tourists with disabilities (e.g. sign language interpretation for the hearing impaired, emotional stability and interaction content for people with developmental disabilities or braille books for the visually impaired).

Korea has expanded the “Employee Vacation Support Programme”, which aims to promote a corporate culture that encourages the free use of leave and to stimulate domestic travel. Launched in 2018, the programme is implemented under a tripartite cost-sharing scheme among the government, companies, and employees, with an annual budget of approximately KRW 15 billion. The number of participating workers rose from 20 000 in 2018 to 124 000 in 2025, while the number of participating companies expanded from 2 441 to 13 660 in the same period. The programme has helped revitalise domestic travel and boost domestic demand, generating an estimated KRW 910 000 in travel spending for every KRW 100 000 of government subsidy. It has also contributed to improving workplace leave culture.

The expansion of AI has driven the need for continued digital transformation to keep up with tourists’ digital demands and ensure that tourism businesses are not left behind. The Korea Guseok Guseok (“Every corner of Korea”) domestic travel information platform uses AI to innovate the entire travel process. It includes:

• Travel exploration: AI summary of travel articles and comments for key information at-a-glance.

• Recommendations and planning: Travel itineraries tailored to users’ needs and preferences.

• Refinement: Enhancing recommendation accuracy by using data from user activities.

• Dissemination: Creating timely and trustworthy travel content based on big data from navigation systems, social media and the travel industry.

The “AI Kkokkok Travel Recommendation Service” provided by the Korea Tourism Organization incorporates safeguards to ensure algorithmic transparency and fairness, minimising both search bias and selection bias in its recommendation process. In addition, the system operates cross-referenced recommendation models and datasets for each category through A/B testing, monitoring consumption and engagement rates, and adjusting content exposure by location, based on these metrics.

Supporting the digitalisation of tourism businesses to meet the needs of tourists remains a core priority. Private sector technologies are being integrated to improve visitor convenience and enhance regional tourism competitiveness. The 1330 Korea Travel Hotline utilises ChatGPT API to translate, summarise, and categorise inquiries in real time, and to store the results for follow-up. The system reviews previous cases and provides consultation recommendations that agents can refer to during interactions with visitors. Analysis services are also available on customer characteristics and behaviours through the Korea Tourism Data Lab, which integrates a variety of big data for analysis. The Data Lab had approximately 80 000 members and around 1 million monthly visitors as of June 2025.

The “Tourism Voucher for Digital Transformation Program” assists tourism companies in their digital transformation efforts, including the adoption of new technologies such as digital solutions, AI, and service robots, as well as providing support for tasks including app and web development and online marketing. Beneficiary companies are selected through a comprehensive evaluation process after the review of their implementation plans, operational capacity, and expected outcomes. In 2025, the programme provided vouchers worth almost KRW 7.5 billion to 162 beneficiary companies.

Korea has multiple initiatives to increase domestic tourism for balanced tourism development. The “Travel Month” initiative is a flagship campaign aimed at promoting domestic tourism. By offering discounts on transportation and travel products, providing information on local travel, and hosting various travel events, the initiative seeks to spark a domestic tourism boom, stimulate domestic consumption through tourism, and shift the demand for overseas trips toward domestic travel. Additionally, the “Digital Tourism Resident Card Project” was introduced to increase the population in areas experiencing population decline and to boost tourism consumption. The digital resident card can be applied for online and provides discounts for accommodation, restaurants and attractions across these regions.

The cross-cutting nature of tourism creates an increasing need for inter-ministerial co-operation. Korea is actively working across ministries to further develop niche tourism opportunities (see box below).