Seongsu-dong, a trendy Seoul neighborhood popular among locals, has recently been bustling with foreigners. People from all over the world have been visiting the dance studio “1MILLION Dance Studio” to take dance classes from professional instructors who have become famous through YouTube and reality TV shows on dance battles. Many foreigners come not just for a brief experience but to stay for extended periods.
StarBe, a girl group that debuted in Indonesia in 2019, trained for three months through the “K-Pop System Training Program” last year. They recorded and filmed the music video for their song “BANG” with Korean professionals before releasing it locally.
The South Korean government will begin issuing the “K-Culture Training Visa,” which will be available in the second half of this year for foreigners who want to stay in Korea for longer periods to train in fields such as K-pop, choreography, and modeling. This new visa will allow foreigners to remain in Korea for extended periods so they do not have to return home every few months to renew their visas.
The Finance Ministry announced plans to revitalize tourism during a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok on June 17. These measures aim to attract more tourists and address the slow recovery of Korea’s tourism revenue despite the rapid visitor growth post-pandemic.
Key measures include shortening the visa issuance time for countries with rising tourist numbers. The cumbersome process of individual K-ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) applications for group tourists will be streamlined with bulk applications and an automatic passport reading (OCR) function.
The government will increase direct flights between regional airports like Cheongju, Daegu, Busan, and overseas cities. New routes, such as Busan-Jakarta and Cheongju-Bali, will launch in the second half of this year. Flights between Daegu and Ulan Bator will also be expanded. The government plans to negotiate with countries with high demand for visits to Korea, such as the Philippines, to establish or increase flight routes. To extend the stay of cruise tourists, additional unmanned automated screening stations will be installed, and the operating hours of cruise passenger terminals like Busan Port will be extended by one to two hours upon request.
The government will also launch a service that allows tourists to check in their baggage in advance so they can visit places on their way to the airport or hotel without carrying their luggage. This service will deliver luggage to hotels from 16 KTX stations, including Seoul, Busan, Daejeon, Dongdaegu, and Gwangju Songjeong. Tourists will be able to check their personal luggage outside the airport before departure at locations such as Gangnam, Jamsil, Hongdae in Seoul, and Yeongjong in Incheon.
Translation services will be provided so that reviews in Korean on domestic map applications, frequently used by foreigners, can be translated into English, Chinese, and other languages. A transportation card for foreigners, which can be prepaid with a credit card via a mobile app, will be sold on arriving flights. The government will also introduce short-term public transportation passes, such as the Seoul Climate Companion Card, and period passes for buses, subways, and light rail in Busan.
Other measures include making railways and rental cars more accessible. The SRT and KTX online ticketing systems will be available in multiple languages, and domestic car rental companies will provide information on international driver’s licenses for each country so that those with valid licenses can rent cars without any hassle.
