Lifestyle Trend: Luxurious yet practical? ‘Dualism’ to shape Korea’s tourism in 2026 You Should Know

Foreign tourists pass by Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, Nov. 19. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Forget simple vacations.

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) announced Monday that the nation’s 2026 travel buzzword is “dualism,” reflecting travelers’ desire for two contrasting experiences on the same trip: luxury and practicality, as well as cutting-edge technology and raw, unfiltered emotion.

At the recent 2025 Data Utilization and Convergence Analysis Conference, the KTO introduced “D.U.A.L.I.S.M.” as the framework for its 2026 tourism outlook. The outlook is based on three years of macroenvironmental analysis, telecommunications and card-spending data, social media trends and surveys of both experts and travelers.

The seven major trends identified are digital humanity, cultural unity, adaptive resilience, local re-creation, individualized value spectrums, spatial experience and multi-generation flow. Each trend points to a shifting tourism model shaped by social, environmental and technological factors.

In the era of “digital humanity,” artificial intelligence becomes an emotional guide of sorts, taking over complex planning so travelers can devote their attention to sensory experiences and human connection. “Unity of culture” captures the growing appeal of K-life tourism, inviting visitors to step beyond on-screen K-content and into the rhythms of everyday Korean life. “Adaptive resilience” points to a shift toward regenerative travel that restores the places it touches, while “local re-creation” recasts ordinary neighborhoods — their food, old shops and daily rituals as distinctive travel assets.

“Individual value spectrum” refers to a more deliberate style of consumption, describing travelers who are willing to spend freely on experiences they find meaningful while carefully avoiding unnecessary costs. “Spatial experience” highlights the rise of “spatial brewing,” in which unused or overlooked spaces are transformed into immersive environments centered on art, media and sensory design. Finally, “multi-generation flow” reflects how travel values are evolving across age groups, with wellness coming to mean emotional renewal for younger travelers and mindful self-care for older ones.

“Contrasting values like technology and emotion, global and local, will emerge to create a new tourism ecosystem,” said Kim Sung-eun, KTO’s tourism data director.