To attract 30 mil. tourists, Korea rebrands local festivals

Korea wants international travelers to venture beyond the neon-lit streets of Seoul and is turning to its quirky regional festivals to do it. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, alongside the Korea Tourism Organization, launched a joint task force on Monday, designed to supercharge the global marketing of 10 designated regional festivals. The initiative represents a centralized push to bundle regional cultural events with curated travel packages, explicitly aiming to help Korea achieve its national target of attracting 30 million annual foreign tourists. Historically, Korea’s regional festivals — ranging from mud wrestling to high-octane rock concerts — have marketed themselves independently, often struggling with language barriers and fragmented logistics. The new joint task force intends to fix this by pairing festival organizers directly with major inbound travel agencies to create seamless, multiday itineraries. Rather than using a one-size-fits-all strategy, Seoul is taking a highly targeted approach. The Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival, for instance, will zero in on