The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) are stepping up support to develop major regional festivals into products for attracting foreign tourists. The initiative aims to consolidate overseas promotion and travel agency partnerships, previously conducted on an individual festival basis, under the "Global Festival" brand to expand both inbound and regional tourism.
The ministry said Tuesday that it will launch a joint planning group with the KTO to strengthen promotion, marketing strategies and content competitiveness for the Global Festival program. The group brings together experts in festivals, marketing and inbound tourism.
A total of 10 festivals will receive support. They include the Suwon Hwaseong Cultural Festival, Incheon Pentaport Music Festival and Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival, designated as Global Festivals for 2024-2026, as well as the Boryeong Mud Festival, Andong Maskdance Festival and Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival, designated for 2026-2028. This year's preliminary Global Festivals include the Daegu Chimac Festival, Busan International Rock Festival, Sunchang Jangryu Festival and Jeongnamjin Jangheung Water Festival.
The ministry and the KTO plan to develop customized promotion strategies based on each festival's characteristics and key inbound tourism markets. The Incheon Pentaport Music Festival will focus on the Japanese market, given its rock music demand and geographic accessibility. The festival will strengthen local promotion through partnerships with Tokyo's Summer Sonic and Japanese broadcaster Space Shower TV, while making ticket reservations more convenient for foreign tourists through Japanese booking platform e+ Tickets.
The Boryeong Mud Festival, newly designated as a Global Festival this year, will expand its mud experience zones and operating hours. Taking into account strong interest from European and American tourists, the festival plans to broaden experience areas using beach spaces and offer nighttime mud experiences to extend visitors' length of stay.
Contact points with inbound travel agencies will also be expanded. For the first time this year, the ministry and the KTO will arrange a venue where Global Festivals directly introduce tourism products to inbound travel agencies. The move reflects feedback from the field that festivals lack channels to connect with travel agencies that recruit foreign tourists, even when they have strong content.
The Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival will leverage its identity as a nighttime festival by introducing products that combine daytime visits to Jinjuseong Fortress and traditional culture experiences with evening viewings of the lantern festival. The festival also plans to utilize its existing network of overseas travel agencies, including Japan's H.I.S., Taiwan's Cola Tour and Hong Kong's EGL Tours.
"Global Festivals already have content compelling enough to captivate audiences worldwide, beyond Korea," said Kang Dong-jin, director general for tourism policy at the ministry. "Through cooperation with the joint planning group and inbound travel agencies, we will strengthen promotion, marketing and product competitiveness so that Global Festival content leads to expanded regional inbound tourism."
