The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has selected 20 wellness tourism destinations to attract foreign visitors and will provide support to enhance their competitiveness. The move responds to growing demand for health- and healing-focused tourism following the enactment of the Healing Tourism Industry Act in April this year.
The ministry, together with the Korea Tourism Organization, designated 20 sites as "Wellness Tourism Destinations Specialized for Foreign Visitors" from among the existing 88 "Premium Wellness Tourism Destinations," based on their capacity to attract foreign tourists and the quality of their program operations, the ministry said Wednesday.
The selected destinations include Sayuwon in Daegu, Awon Hanok Hotel in Wanju, North Jeolla Province, WE Hotel in Jeju, Spa Land Centum City in Busan, Yeoyongguk Korean Medicine Spa in Seoul, and Park Roche Resort & Wellness in Gangwon Province. The sites are categorized into beauty and spa, healing and meditation, traditional Korean medicine, stay, food, and natural therapy.
The ministry will provide each selected destination with up to 50 million won in support to strengthen competitiveness. Key areas of support include promotion through overseas platforms, the development of customized digital services for foreign visitors, and the upgrading of tourism products and promotional content.
Having completed the enactment of subordinate regulations under the Healing Tourism Industry Act, the ministry plans to sequentially pursue the establishment of a basic plan for fostering the healing tourism industry, the training of specialized personnel, the registration of healing tourism operators, fact-finding surveys, and the designation of healing tourism industrial zones.
"Wellness tourism is a future growth industry that combines tourism with health and healing," a ministry official said. "We will foster wellness tourism destinations specialized for foreign visitors to establish a Korean-style wellness tourism model."
