Publication of Tourism Profiling Analysis Report for Population Decline Areas by Korea Tourism Organization

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization published a report titled 'Tourism Profiling Analysis of Population Declining Areas' on the 20th, analyzing the impact of tourism population on areas with declining populations and presenting customized tourism strategies for each region. The tourism population refers to people who regularly stay in an area for tourism purposes among the resident population.

The Korea Tourism Organization analyzed the tourism environment of a total of 107 areas, including 89 population declining areas and 18 areas of interest regarding population decline, using a total of 231 data variables such as mobile communication and credit card data, surveys, and other public data. Through this, eight types of tourism based on tourism characteristics were presented.

The eight tourism types are ▲marine-centered long-distance accommodation and stay tourism areas ▲nature and event-centered long-distance non-stay areas ▲nature, leisure, and theme park-centered short-distance non-stay areas ▲nature and event-centered short-distance non-stay areas ▲downtown tourism and cultural experience-centered short-distance non-stay areas ▲complex resource-centered mid-distance accommodation and stay tourism concentration areas ▲event and historical site-centered short-distance non-stay areas ▲marine and leisure-centered mid- to long-distance accommodation and stay areas.

Additionally, a survey was conducted on 2,426 tourism population visitors who visited population declining areas over the past three years to identify correlations. The tourism type showing the greatest visitation effect due to the tourism population was the 'complex resource-centered mid-distance accommodation and stay tourism concentration area,' which had a high proportion of family visitors, an average stay duration of 2.39 days, an accommodation experience rate of 90.5%, and a daily expenditure per person of 223,144 KRW, showing high visitation effects in all categories.

Based on the profiling analysis results, the Korea Tourism Organization analyzed the core issues of population declining areas, proposed region-specific solutions reflecting expert opinions, and plans to implement these on the Korea Tourism Data Lab this year.

Kim Seong-eun, head of the Tourism Data Office at the Korea Tourism Organization, stated, "Through this analysis, the number of visitors to tourist destinations eligible for digital tourism resident card benefits, such as Gapyeong-gun in Gyeonggi-do, has noticeably increased, and the consumption effects have been empirically confirmed." He added, "The Korea Tourism Organization will continue to strive to revitalize tourism in population declining areas based on data analysis."