Korea Tourism Organization launches 'K League Trip Day' sports travel packages

The Korea Tourism Organization has teamed up with the Korea Professional Football League to launch a sports tourism package combining K League matches with regional travel, aiming to turn stadium visits into extended stays in local areas.

The Korea Tourism Organization announced Tuesday that it will operate the "K League Trip Day" product in the second half of this year with the Korea Professional Football League, recruiting participants for travel packages that pair in-person K League matches with domestic tourism.

The Trip Day program ran a pilot in May for select matches to connect fans traveling to away games with regional tourism experiences. About 150 FC Seoul and Incheon United fans boarded a dedicated train to visit Daejeon, where they took part in activities including a local bakery tour. The organization will now expand the program to K League matches held outside the Greater Seoul area, offering home- and away-fan travel packages that include match tickets for each round.

The packages will run weekly starting with the K League 2 match between Busan IPark (home) and Suwon Samsung Bluewings (away) on Saturday. The organization will offer both day-trip and one-night, two-day packages for home matches hosted by regional K League clubs through the final round, recruiting up to 100 participants per match. Activities tied to each club's home region — including visits to the North Gyeongsang Province Arboretum and Jeonju's Wansan Bunker — will be offered before and after matches to draw football fans into local tourism.

Detailed schedules and registration information are available at the travel product promotional page on the "Corners of Korea" website.

Kang Yu-young, head of the Korea Tourism Organization's regional tourism development team, said visitors to local areas drawn by sports events have been consistently increasing, but travel products catering to them remain scarce. "We will expand our support to convert sports fans' travel demand into extended regional stays," she said.