Mukho featured in Trend Korea 2027 as a rising small-city travel destination
Mukho, a port neighborhood in the city of Donghae, Gangwon Province, has been featured in "Trend Korea 2027" as a small-city travel destination reflecting new currents in Korean tourism.
The recognition follows a widely viewed travel video featuring members of RESCENE, one of the most popular K-pop girl groups at the moment, visiting Mukho and Mureung Byeoryucheonji in Donghae. With the neighborhood now appearing in the annual trend forecast compiled by a Seoul National University research team led by Professor Kim Nan-do, Mukho's standing as a must-visit destination has been reaffirmed.
"Trend Korea" is an annual publication that analyzes shifts in consumer culture and lifestyle and forecasts major trends for the coming year. The 2027 edition focuses on small-city travel — a style of tourism centered on slowly exploring local alleyways and everyday life in smaller towns.
Mukho is highlighted as a destination that lets visitors cover its main attractions on foot, offering the unhurried atmosphere of a quiet port village and a sense of place rooted in local character. The book also notes that the neighborhood has earned the nickname "Korea's Santorini" and is drawing growing attention from younger generations.
Instagram posts tagged "#Mukho" number around 64,000. Data from Shinhan Card show that transactions at small specialty shops in the Mukho area from January through May 2026 surged 2,113 percent compared with the same period in 2024. Visitors in their 20s and 30s accounted for 74 percent of total spending during that period.
Mukho is accessible from Seoul in about two and a half hours by KTX. Its compact layout — centered on Mukho Port, with Nongol Damgil alley, Dojaebigol Sky Valley and coastal scenery all within walking distance — aligns naturally with the current trend toward pedestrian-focused travel.
Narrow lanes winding along the sea and hillside, the weathered streetscape of an old port village, and the everyday spaces of local residents together give Mukho a small-town charm that stands apart from large-scale tourist facilities.
Donghae had previously appeared in "Trend Korea 2022" and "Trend Korea 2026." This year, a seaside bookshop village in the Dongho district — developed as part of an urban regeneration project — was cited as an example of "Feel-conomy," a consumer trend centered on emotion and experience.
Professor Kim Nan-do, author of the bestselling self-help book "It Hurts Because You're Young" and the researcher behind the annual trend reports, introduced Donghae's blend of old and new culture and its creative tourism initiatives at a Kyobo Book Centre lecture last year.
Donghae has been working to renovate the aging alleyways and stairways of Mukho's original downtown area, improving living conditions while preserving the neighborhood's history and visual character.
Those efforts have focused first on enhancing the residential environment for local inhabitants, while also creating conditions for visitors to experience the rhythms of daily life in a port village and its back streets.
"Mukho's inclusion in 'Trend Korea 2027' is meaningful because it shows that the port village scenery and everyday life this community has long preserved are now drawing fresh attention within the broader travel landscape," said Jeong Ha-yeon, the city's public relations and audit officer. "We will continue to protect the lives of residents and the area's distinctive character while building a travel environment where visitors can linger and return."
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