International vacationers move by Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, Nov. 19. Korea Occasions photograph 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 expertise and uncooked, unfiltered emotion.
On the latest 2025 Information 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 move. Every pattern 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 types, taking up advanced planning so vacationers can dedicate their consideration to sensory experiences and human connection. “Unity of tradition” captures the rising attraction 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that restores the locations it touches, whereas “native re-creation” recasts abnormal neighborhoods — their meals, outdated retailers and each day rituals as distinctive journey belongings.
“Particular person worth spectrum” refers to a extra deliberate model of consumption, describing vacationers who’re keen to spend freely on experiences they discover significant whereas rigorously avoiding pointless prices. “Spatial expertise” highlights the rise of “spatial brewing,” through which unused or missed areas are reworked into immersive environments centered on artwork, media and sensory design. Lastly, “multi-generation move” 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 expertise and emotion, international and native, will emerge to create a brand new tourism ecosystem,” stated Kim Sung-eun, KTO’s tourism knowledge director.
