K-tourism investment forum draws record overseas participation

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization held the 2026 Tourism Global Business Day to help domestic tourism startups expand overseas and attract foreign investment. The event drew the largest number of overseas investors and domestic venture companies in its history, demonstrating the real potential of K-tourism firms to grow internationally.

Running Tuesday through Wednesday at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas, the event brought together about 270 participants — including startups selected under the Tourism Global Challenge program, which supports overseas expansion, and representatives from 20 venture capital firms across six countries: the United States, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong. The Korea Tourism Organization invited the investors through its tourism business support centers operating in Singapore, Tokyo and Bangkok.

This year, organizers introduced a pre-matched one-on-one business consultation session, through which tourism venture companies and overseas investors are conducting more than 330 meetings. The program also features IR pitching sessions in which Tourism Global Challenge-selected companies present their business models to foreign investors, a lecture by the Japan External Trade Organization on its startup support policy and market-entry strategy for Japan, and a presentation by Thailand's National Innovation Agency on strategies for entering the Thai market.

On the first day of the event Tuesday, CrossHub — selected this year as a Tourism Global Challenge company — secured $100,000 in investment from Thinkzone Ventures, Vietnam's largest venture capital firm. CrossHub is a fintech company developing AI- and blockchain-based digital identity verification and payment infrastructure. Its prepaid payment platform for foreign tourists, TravelPass, is expected to improve payment convenience for inbound visitors to South Korea and help overcome language barriers.

Kim Gwan-mi, head of the Korea Tourism Organization's tourism business support division, said the organization would spare no effort in follow-up support — including helping companies participate in overseas tech fairs — to discover and nurture outstanding tourism startups and facilitate active foreign investment. "We will work side by side with tourism startups on the ground to produce K-tourism unicorn companies," she added.