14 Million Visitors to Natural Recreation Forests... 97% Say It Positively Impacts Their Lives

A panoramic photo of the National Sinshido Natural Recreation Forest located in Gunsan, nationwide. Provided by the Korea Forest Service.

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Last year, the number of visitors to natural recreation forests nationwide reached 14 million. In particular, the majority of visitors perceive that using natural recreation forests has a positive impact on their lives.

According to the Korea Forest Service on the 26th, the number of natural recreation forest users increased by 27% compared to the previous year (10 million). By type of operation, 3.644 million visitors went to 44 national natural recreation forests, 9.368 million to 116 public natural recreation forests, and 912,000 to 24 private natural recreation forests.

The increase in the number of natural recreation forest users is analyzed to be due to environmental factors such as prolonged COVID-19 restrictions limiting activities in urban areas.

Additionally, as more visitors feel satisfaction in resting and relaxing in the forest, the usage of natural recreation forests has also significantly increased.

In fact, in a ‘Forest Recreation and Welfare Activities Survey’ conducted by Matrix Research Co., Ltd. on 10,000 people aged 15 and over who used natural recreation forests in the past year, 97% of respondents recognized that forest recreation and welfare activities had a positive impact on their lives.

Reflecting this trend, the Korea Forest Service has been continuously expanding natural recreation forests and forest camping sites since 2020.

In line with this, the Korea Forest Service plans to invest a total budget of 151.9 billion KRW this year to newly establish 17 natural recreation forests, 2 forest bathing sites, and 14 forest camping sites nationwide, as well as renovate 191 outdated facilities.

Kim Jong-geun, Director of the Forest Recreation and Hiking Division at the Korea Forest Service, stated, “To meet the public’s demand for recreation, we will expand related facilities and programs and work to eliminate welfare blind spots so that everyone can use recreation forests fairly.”