International vacationers cross by Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, Nov. 19. Korea Instances picture by Shim Hyun-chul
Neglect easy holidays.
The Korea Tourism Group (KTO) introduced Monday that the nation’s 2026 journey buzzword is “dualism,” reflecting vacationers’ want for 2 contrasting experiences on the identical journey: luxurious and practicality, in addition to cutting-edge know-how and uncooked, unfiltered emotion.
On the latest 2025 Knowledge Utilization and Convergence Evaluation Convention, the KTO launched “D.U.A.L.I.S.M.” because the framework for its 2026 tourism outlook. The outlook is predicated on three years of macroenvironmental evaluation, telecommunications and card-spending knowledge, social media tendencies and surveys of each consultants and vacationers.
The seven main tendencies recognized are digital humanity, cultural unity, adaptive resilience, native re-creation, individualized worth spectrums, spatial expertise and multi-generation movement. Every development factors to a shifting tourism mannequin formed by social, environmental and technological components.
Within the period of “digital humanity,” synthetic intelligence turns into an emotional information of kinds, taking up advanced planning so vacationers can commit their consideration to sensory experiences and human connection. “Unity of tradition” captures the rising enchantment of Ok-life tourism, inviting guests to step past on-screen Ok-content and into the rhythms of on a regular basis Korean life. “Adaptive resilience” factors to a shift towards regenerative journey that restores the locations it touches, whereas “native re-creation” recasts extraordinary neighborhoods — their meals, outdated outlets and day by day rituals as distinctive journey belongings.
“Particular person worth spectrum” refers to a extra deliberate fashion of consumption, describing vacationers who’re prepared to spend freely on experiences they discover significant whereas fastidiously avoiding pointless prices. “Spatial expertise” highlights the rise of “spatial brewing,” by which unused or missed areas are reworked into immersive environments centered on artwork, media and sensory design. Lastly, “multi-generation movement” displays how journey values are evolving throughout age teams, with wellness coming to imply emotional renewal for youthful vacationers and aware self-care for older ones.
“Contrasting values like know-how and emotion, international and native, will emerge to create a brand new tourism ecosystem,” mentioned Kim Sung-eun, KTO’s tourism knowledge director.
