‘Wellness-Centered City’ Yeongdeok Establishes Roadmap for Greater Leap Forward

Launching Development of Wellness Attractions and Content
Fostering Convergent Wellness Tourism

Yeongdeok-gun, one of the central regions in the Gyeongbuk Province wellness tourism cluster project, is establishing and promoting a 10-year mid- to long-term development roadmap for the wellness industry to leap forward as South Korea’s premier city of healing and health, based on achievements such as the ‘International H-Wellness Festa.’

Kim Kwang-yeol, the governor of Yeongdeok County, is greeting a foreign couple participating in the International H-Wellness Festa. Photo by Yeongdeok County

Since focusing on wellness tourism from 2019, Yeongdeok-gun has risen as a wellness tourism hotspot, beginning with the ‘Humanities Healing Center Yeomyeong,’ which offers meditation and natural health experiences, being selected as a ‘Recommended Wellness Tourism Destination’ by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization in 2020. It was reselected as an ‘Excellent Wellness Tourism Destination’ in 2024, and in the same year, the Goraebul National Camping Ground was designated as a ‘Gyeongbuk Wellness Tourism Site.’

Humanities Healing Center Yeomyeong.

Additionally, the ‘Yeongdeok International H-Wellness Festa,’ co-hosted with Gyeongbuk Province, achieved great success with content that integrates wellness and medical care, proving its potential as an international wellness tourism destination.

Building on these efforts, Yeongdeok-gun was selected as Gyeongbuk’s first ‘K-Wellness City’ in December last year, and this year, it achieved the remarkable feat of being consecutively chosen as a wellness tourism city at the ‘2025 K-Brand Awards’ organized by TV Chosun, reaffirming its status as a leading wellness hub in Korea.

Based on these achievements and potential, Yeongdeok-gun is implementing a 10-year mid- to long-term development roadmap to grow the wellness industry as a core sector linked with the tourism industry.

Accordingly, Yeongdeok-gun plans to foster wellness tourism by integrating marine, forest, and agricultural resources; advance the wellness industry centered on Korean medicine and Ayurveda; develop content linking wellness industry with culture and sports; and host global wellness corporate expos, aiming to become a leading center for the global wellness industry and tourism.

Furthermore, efforts are underway to create additional wellness attractions and diverse wellness content, including the development of themed roads along the Blue Road, which has established itself as a premium coastal trekking course, the development of the Gwanuidae wellness tourism site, and the establishment of a Korean Medicine Wellness Center where visitors can experience one of the world’s top three natural healing medicines.

County Governor Kim Gwang-yeol stated, “With active investment attraction, high-end accommodations were established by the end of last year, and following the full opening of the Donghae Line railway this year and the completion of the Yeongdeok-Pohang expressway, the infrastructure that will serve as the foundation for a wellness hub city is gradually being put in place. We will prevent regional extinction and revitalize the area by leveraging the wellness industry’s unparalleled competitiveness.”