Make the Sea a Place Visitors Want to Stay — Rethinking Marine Tourism in Korea
Creatrip Team
7 months ago
A policy seminar in Yeosu highlighted plans to reposition Korea’s marine tourism as a stay-and-spend industry rather than a sightseeing resource. Experts urged combining tourism, leisure, and culture to capitalize on Korea’s three-sided coastline and growing global marine tourism market (marine tourism: tourism around seas and coasts). Korea’s marine and coastal tourism generates large global value, and the country is developing integrated marine-leisure-tourism cities in Tongyeong, Pohang, and Yeosu with marinas, leisure facilities, lodging, commerce, and cultural spaces. Challenges include short visitor stays, low local spending, fragmented operations, and overlapping regulations across multiple ministries. Participants recommended improving transport links (including cruise access), creating night programs and festival tie-ins, and reforming regulations and interagency governance to build a competitive, sustainable marine tourism ecosystem.
