The Korea Heritage Service is drawing attention for its recent focus on "national heritage tourism." The agency has traditionally prioritized the preservation and management of national heritage assets, both tangible and intangible, while taking a relatively passive stance on their utilization. However, as the Lee Jae-myung administration has shifted the policy focus toward revitalizing regional economies, calls have grown for the Korea Heritage Service to recalibrate its role.
Heo Min, Administrator of the Korea Heritage Service, presented "tourism," or "national heritage tourism," as the top priority when reporting the agency's "first-anniversary policy achievements" at a Cabinet meeting and emergency economic review meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on the 20th.
The agency divided its main work over the past year into four areas: expansion of national heritage tourism, regulatory innovation, the bid to host the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, and the recovery of Gwanwoldang as a symbol of Korea-Japan cooperation.
Heo broke the achievements into two main categories. First, "we are injecting new vitality into local communities and driving regional growth through the revitalization of national heritage tourism and regulatory innovation" (national heritage tourism and regulatory innovation). Second, "we are emerging as a global cultural heritage powerhouse through the globalization of K-Heritage" (the World Heritage Committee bid and the recovery of Gwanwoldang).
On the first achievement, "national heritage tourism," Heo said visitors to royal palaces and tombs, including Gyeongbokgung, reached 17.81 million in 2025, an all-time high, with foreign visitors at 4.27 million, a sevenfold increase from 2022. Visitors to regional national heritage programs also exceeded 6.71 million, generating an economic impact of approximately 720 billion won.
He also reported plans to expand the "National Heritage Visit Bridge Program," which links foreign tourists concentrated in the metropolitan area to attractive national heritage sites across the country. The Bridge Program connects regional national heritage tourism initiatives that were previously run separately, including national heritage visit campaigns, night-tour programs, and experiences at traditional mountain temples and historic homes.
In the second part of his report, Heo presented a goal to revitalize regional tourism by linking 51 basic local governments across the country that hold Korea's 17 UNESCO World Heritage sites, using the hosting of the World Heritage Committee as a catalyst.
Heo's emphasis on "tourism" in this report marks a significant departure from the Korea Heritage Service's previous stance.
In a work report to President Lee Jae-myung in December last year, Heo presented four priorities for the agency: national heritage carried into the future; coexistence with citizens as a driver of regional development; the globalization of K-Heritage; and building K-Heritage into a 100 trillion won market. "Revitalization of regional tourism based on national heritage" was included only as a sub-item under the second priority.
The situation has changed this year. Under the recently finalized first supplementary budget for 2026, the agency secured 877 million won to build a national heritage tourism database. The Korea Heritage Service's Regional Heritage Strategic Support Group has said it is "establishing policies that can drive regional development through K-Heritage tourism, in line with the government-wide push for balanced regional development."
