The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization unveiled the '88 Excellent Wellness Tourism Destinations' on the 9th.
This year, following the 77 destinations selected last year, 11 new excellent wellness tourism destinations have been selected, including ▲Heidi House (Seoul) ▲Tribium (Gyeonggi) ▲Yaksokwon (Incheon) ▲Chadukbun (Incheon) ▲SME Wellness Center (Busan) ▲Haevichi Hotel & Resort (Jeju) ▲Gyo-rae Natural Recreation Forest (Jeju) ▲Gochang Well-Park City (Jeonbuk) ▲Jeollanam-do Mental Health Healing Center (Jeonnam) ▲Daeheungsa Temple (Jeonnam) ▲Hadong County Tea Cultural Facility (Gyeongnam).
The 88 Excellent Wellness Tourism Destinations are organized around six themes. Domestic and international tourists can choose from a variety of options based on their journey, including Nature and Forest Healing (26 locations), Beauty and Spa (21 locations), Healing and Meditation (20 locations), Traditional Medicine (9 locations), Stay (8 locations), and Food (4 locations).
Upon being designated as excellent wellness tourism destinations, facilities can receive tailored consulting from wellness tourism experts and advisory groups. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will strengthen strategic support in areas such as branding, promotion and marketing, and product promotion based on demand surveys conducted for each facility. Through phased upgrades, the quality of service in excellent wellness tourism destinations will be improved, and representative wellness tourism experience products will also be developed.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to foster not only the designation of excellent wellness tourism destinations but also the wellness tourism industry. As the Healing Tourism Industry Promotion Act passed the National Assembly on March 20, the Ministry will actively market by training professional personnel in the wellness tourism industry together with the Korea Tourism Organization and by hosting and participating in exhibitions both domestically and internationally.
Kim Geun-ho, director of tourism industry policy at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, noted, "It is important to enhance the development and promotion of wellness tourism products that reflect local characteristics unique to Korea in line with the recent trend of pursuing health for both body and mind in tourism." He added, "As the Healing Tourism Industry Promotion Act has recently passed, we will foster wellness tourism as a tourism content that enhances the global competitiveness of K-tourism."