Heal your tired body and mind (88) at 88 ‘Excellent Wellness Tourism Sites’

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Yoo In-chon, hereinafter referred to as MCST) and the Korea Tourism Organization (Acting President Seo Young-chung, hereinafter referred to as KTO) are revealing the ’88 Excellent Wellness Tourism Destinations’ where travelers can heal their body and mind.

  This year, following the 77 selected up until last year, 11 new locations were selected as ‘Excellent Wellness Tourism Destinations’: ▴Heidi House (Seoul), ▴Trivium (Gyeonggi), ▴Yakseokwon (Incheon), ▴Chadukbun (Incheon), ▴SMB Wellness Center (Busan), ▴Haevichi Hotel & Resort (Jeju), ▴Gyo-rae Natural Recreation Forest (Jeju), ▴Gochang Wellpark City (Jeollabuk-do), ▴Jeollanam-do Mental Health Healing Center (Jeollanam-do), ▴Daeheungsa Temple (Jeollanam-do), and ▴Hadong-gun Tea Culture Facility (Gyeongsangnam-do).

  ’88 Excellent Wellness Tourism Destinations’ is operated under six themes: nature/forest healing (26 locations), beauty/spa (21 locations), healing/meditation (20 locations), oriental medicine (9 locations), stay (8 locations), and food (4 locations) so that domestic and international tourists can enjoy various forms and choices depending on their itinerary.

  The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization will provide customized consulting services for ‘excellent wellness tourism destinations’ with wellness tourism experts and advisory groups for each facility. Through demand surveys for each facility, they plan to strengthen strategic support for desired areas such as branding, public relations/marketing, and product promotion, and improve the service quality of ‘excellent wellness tourism destinations’ through step-by-step advancement and develop representative wellness tourism experience products.

 Promoting ‘wellness tourism’ through the preparation of the enforcement ordinance of the ‘Healing Tourism Industry Act ‘ ,  training of professional personnel ,  overseas marketing, etc.

According to the Global Wellness Institute (2024), the global wellness tourism market size is expected to reach approximately USD 830.2 billion in 2023 and grow at an average annual rate of 10.2% until 2028. Due to the increase in national income and leisure time, diversification of tourism demand, and increased interest in and demand for recovery from COVID-19, resources and facilities related to ‘wellness tourism’ that pursue healing and balance of body and mind are also increasing worldwide.

  Accordingly, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will actively foster the ‘wellness tourism’ industry, not only by selecting ‘excellent wellness tourism destinations’ but also by using the ‘Act on the Promotion of the Healing Tourism Industry’ (hereinafter referred to as the Healing Tourism Industry Act) that passed the National Assembly plenary session on March 20th as an opportunity. It plans to prepare the subordinate laws necessary for the enforcement of the ‘Healing Tourism Industry Act’ without a hitch, and to actively promote overseas marketing such as training experts in the ‘wellness tourism’ industry and hosting and participating in domestic and international exhibitions in cooperation with the Korea Tourism Organization.

 Kim Geun-ho, director general of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Tourism Industry Policy Bureau, said, “In line with the recent tourism trend that pursues both physical and mental health, it is important to develop and promote wellness tourism products that highlight regional characteristics that can only be experienced in Korea.” He added, “As the ‘Healing Tourism Industry Act’ recently passed the National Assembly, we will foster ‘wellness tourism’ as tourism content that will enhance the global competitiveness of K-tourism.”