South Korea will intensively develop the Boryeong Mud Festival, Andong International Mask Dance Festival, and Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival into world-class events.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Monday that it selected these three festivals as "Global Festivals" through a joint competition with the Korea Tourism Organization. Four additional events—the Daegu Chimac Festival, Busan International Rock Festival, Sunchang Fermented Soybean Festival, and Jeongnamjin Jangheung Water Festival—were designated as "Preliminary Global Festivals."
The Global Festival program is a policy initiative through which the ministry selects and supports festivals every three years. Newly designated Global Festivals will receive up to 800 million won ($580,000) annually for a maximum of three years. Preliminary Global Festivals will receive 250 million won per year.
During the support period, the ministry will help each festival develop strategies to at least double foreign tourist attendance and create new experiential content for international visitors. The government will also install cameras and distance-measuring sensors at festival venues to analyze crowd and traffic congestion, while supporting food payment systems to improve capacity management and visitor convenience.
The government expects Global Festivals to serve as key content for achieving its goal of 30 million inbound tourists ahead of schedule. The three festivals designated as Global Festivals in 2024—Incheon Pentaport Music Festival, Suwon Hwaseong Cultural Festival, and Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival—attracted a combined 130,000 foreign visitors in 2025.
This year, the ministry plans to partner with local governments to develop regional tourism products that encourage foreign festival-goers to extend their stays. The Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival, leveraging its status as a nighttime event, will collaborate with nearby municipalities including Sancheong, Sacheon, and Goseong to develop extended-stay tourism packages. The Andong International Mask Dance Festival plans to offer visitors benefits such as free admission to major tourist sites in Andong as well as neighboring Mungyeong, Yeongju, and Goryeong.
"This year is the optimal time for Korean tourism to take a leap forward," said Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young. "We will develop diverse tourism products centered on Global Festivals and Preliminary Global Festivals, and work to improve convenience for foreign tourists so that high interest in K-culture can translate into visits to festival venues—the comprehensive K-culture experience zones."