From 'zoning out' to K-pop pilgrimages: Koreans vote on the country's top tourist spots

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization will hold a public vote this summer to select 10,000 tourist attractions across the country, aiming to expand tourism content through citizen participation.

Starting Monday and running through July 10, the two agencies are conducting a public vote for the "Korea Landmark Discovery 100×100 Project." The initiative is a new tourism promotion project designed with current travel trends in mind, bringing together travel experts and the general public to spark interest in regional tourism and raise awareness of destinations around the country.

To develop the project, the two agencies held an internal ideas competition and an organization-wide brainstorming session to set its direction. In March, they assembled a panel of 100 travel experts — including travel journalists, travel writers, regional tourism specialists and inbound tourism experts. Their recommendations of 100 travel themes and candidate attractions for each theme were made public for the first time Monday.

The "100×100 Project" organizes its 100 themes into eight broad categories that go beyond food and nature to reflect the latest travel trends, including lifestyle and interest-based travel. The eight categories are experiential content, food, nature and ecology, lifestyle, K-content, culture and arts and tradition, architecture, and travel preferences.

The project features a wide range of themes designed to capture travelers' attention. Food-focused themes include gukbap and hangover soup spots. Activity-oriented themes cover the top 100 walking trails, the best fishing holes and pet-friendly travel destinations. Trend-driven themes range from "halmaenieol" (grandmother-chic) K-dessert tours and craft-drink bar crawls to personal winter wonderland getaways, Instagram-worthy moments and the best spots for zoning out. Particularly in response to growing inbound tourism demand, the project also introduces themes targeting foreign visitors' interests — K-pop pilgrimage sites, K-shrine destinations and vintage fashion hotspots. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said it plans to present themes and attractions that people of all ages, genders and nationalities can enjoy, adding fresh appeal to tourism in South Korea.

The "100×100 Project" will be finalized through public choice. Once the 100 themes and their candidate attractions are released, participants vote for places they are interested in or want to visit. The results will determine 100 attractions for each of the 100 themes — 10,000 South Korean tourist spots in total.

Voters can access the voting page through the "Korea, the Destination" website or the "Travel Month" website, select a theme and a destination, and cast their ballot. There is no limit on the number of votes, and participants may freely vote across multiple themes and attractions. Participants will be entered into a prize draw offering rewards including a portable television, a dining gift card worth 300,000 won ($194) and online Onnuri gift cards in denominations of 50,000 won and 10,000 won, with more votes increasing the odds of winning.

For eight of the 100 themes that currently have fewer than 100 candidate attractions, the public can submit their own nominations. Those eight themes are: lyrics-inspired destinations, atmospheric train stations, a lighthouse keeper's secret map, campus tours, bucket-list islands, Jeju volcanic cones ("oreum"), pilgrimage travel, KTX train journeys to every corner of Korea, and historic walled towns and fortresses. Nominators may suggest a location and explain their reasons; if the spot is selected as an official attraction, they will receive a small gift.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization have also organized additional events to encourage public participation in the vote. To boost interest in domestic travel, they will hold a public event called the "Travel Month Summer Mini Campaign." Participants who vote for attractions and verify their participation on social media will be entered into a draw for convenience store mobile gift cards worth 10,000 won each, with 200 winners selected in total.

After voting closes, the full list of 10,000 selected South Korean tourist attractions will be published on the "Korea, the Destination" website. Events will also be held to encourage visits to the chosen sites. For themes with a dedicated fan base, a stamp-rally challenge will be organized, offering collectible souvenirs based on the number of locations visited. The agencies also plan to collaborate with leading content creators for each theme on promotional events and campaigns to keep the selected attractions in the public eye.

Kang Jeong-won, director general of tourism policy at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the "100×100 Project" would ease the first worry that comes to mind when planning a trip — where to go. "Through '100×100,' we will introduce a wide variety of destinations to foreign visitors coming to Korea, and it will serve as an important compass guiding them to explore new regions," he said.