International tourists dressed in Hanbok take photos in front of Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul, Jan. 1. Newsis
Beyond Seoul, Busan and Jeju, Korea’s regional cities are emerging as the next hot spots for overseas visitors, buoyed by a global shift toward slower, experience-driven travel that looks beyond marquee destinations.
For years, most foreign visitors to Korea have gravitated toward a familiar trio: the shopping streets and royal palaces of Seoul, the beaches and nightlife of Busan and the volcanic landscapes of Jeju Island.
Now, with inbound tourism expected to reach record highs, that pattern is beginning to shift. What sets this recovery apart from earlier booms is not just the number of visitors, but how — and where — they travel and spend.
Industry tracker Yanolja Research projects that 20.36 million foreign tourists will visit Korea this year, up 8.7 percent from a year earlier and surpassing the pre-pandemic peak, with the figure possibly climbing to 21 million if geopolitical tensions redirect more Chinese travelers from Japan to Korea.
Data from travel platform Klook indicates that the number of products targeting foreign tourists in provincial regions has doubled from a year ago, even as many of those areas grapple with demographic decline and aging populations. Packages in South Chungcheong Province surged 300 percent, while trips to North Jeolla and North Chungcheong Provinces, Daegu and the historic city of Gyeongju grew between 50 and 114 percent.
Search and booking patterns mirror this shift. North Chungcheong saw a 245 percent jump in views for regional tourism products, and Gyeongju experienced a 149 percent increase. Popular picks include one-day trips to Danyang, city and theme park experiences in Gyeongju, observatory and amusement park tours in Daegu and nature programs in South Chungcheong Province.
Rather than checking off items from a list of famous landmarks, more visitors are choosing compact itineraries that emphasize local character, such as tasting regional foods, walking around historic neighborhoods and joining hands-on lifestyle programs that fit into a single day.
Improved connectivity is helping to turn interest into bookings.
Passengers make their way through Seoul Station in central Seoul to catch departing trains, Dec. 8, 2025. Newsis
The expansion of KTX high-speed rail and express bus networks has made it easier to reach provincial hubs, widening the radius that short-stay visitors can realistically cover from a single gateway.
Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) is trying to lower the barriers further by bundling long-distance rail and local transport into a single product for overseas visitors through its new “KORAIL Pass Plus,” launched last December, while offering expanded multilingual ticket machines and websites that allow foreign credit card payments and simpler booking.
On the ground, guides say the shift is tangible.
“There is no question demand has grown,” said Lee Do-yeon, a Busan-based travel guide with more than a decade of experience, who now spends much of his time leading small-group regional tours. Although Seoul, Busan and Jeju remain major gateways, “people don’t just want to stay there anymore — they use those cities as entry points and, because information and translation are so accessible now, they’re no longer afraid of language barriers and feel comfortable exploring all kinds of places.”
Hwangridan-gil in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, a trendy street lined with renovated hanok houses, cafes, boutiques and restaurants, bustles with international visitors, Jan. 1. Yonhap
He said the global popularity of Korean culture has “expanded from a single genre to a broader curiosity about Korean culture and regions,” with repeat visitors increasingly skipping familiar sights, while AI-powered navigation, translation and recommendation services have “broken down language barriers and made it easier for visitors to design their own trips and seek out secondary cities.”
While local governments and the tourism industry see the current moment as a “golden time” to place regional brands on the global tourism map, experts say the challenge is whether local infrastructure and genuinely distinctive content are in place to sustain the momentum and turn the shift into durable growth.
“Travelers want experiences that feel both distinctly Korean and on-trend, but many local tourism policies lag behind,” Lee said, adding that visitors now “prefer solid, well-crafted content over flashy facades, and the regions that deliver it will win over foreign tourists.”
“Standardized, hardware-focused tourism has reached its limit,” Jang Su-chang, head of Yanolja Research, said, mirroring Lee’s view and calling for a shift toward uncovering regional stories and culture and reshaping them into immersive, authentic content rather than focusing on building new attractions.
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