South Korea to Launch K-Culture & Digital Nomad Visas

The South Korean government has announced its plans to expand visa benefits in a bid to draw 20 million foreign visitors and create $24.5 billion in tourism revenue the next year, as reported by The Korea Times.

In this regard, the South Korean authorities will broaden the scope of electronic visa fee waivers for tour groups. Meanwhile, for foreign nationals who want to learn more about South Korean culture, it will also launch a K-culture training visa and a digital nomad visa (workaction) in the upcoming year, VisaGuide.World reports.

The expansion of electronic visa fee waivers will be applied for tourists from Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, and the application period will be extended till next year.

In September this year, a similar measure was taken, in an effort to attract more tourists from China when South Korean authorities decided to exclude Chinese tourists from the requirement to apply for an electronic visa.

The K-culture training visa is designed for young foreign individuals interested in Korean content and willing to learn about the country’s entertainment industry.

Whereas the digital nomad visa (workcation) permits residence in Korea for one to two years, allowing the visa holder to uphold employment in their home country.

Furthermore, the South Korean government has planned other activities in a bid to accelerate inbound tourism. They aim to implement international mobile payment options in their stores, enabling incoming travelers to use payment methods from their home countries.

The government is also working on developing a mobility application exclusively for foreign travelers. This app will facilitate reservations for trains, buses, and taxis. Currently, they are looking to develop an English version of the current navigation service.

The country is already experiencing an increase in tourist numbers, aiming to surpass even the pre-pandemic records, including both number of tourists and revenues. In 2019 – the year before the Covid-19 pandemic – South Korea welcomed 17.5 million inbound travelers and made $20.7 billion in revenue.

In spite of plans to boost tourism, which is already experiencing growth, South Korea is facing a shortage of workers within this sector. According to a survey conducted by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, the tourist accommodation industry continues to experience a 23 percent vacancy rate in its workforce. 60 percent of businesses within this sector require more than a month to advertise for the recruitment process.

South Korea has one of the most powerful passports in the world. According to the VisaGuide Passport Index, South Korean passports rank 27th in the world as of December 2023. This implies that citizens holding such a passport are eligible to travel visa-free in 148 countries around the world.