South Korea axes visa barriers for Indonesians in 30 million visitor drive

South China Morning PostEN 1 min read 100% complete by The Korea TimesFebruary 25, 2026 at 08:47 AM

AI Summary

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South Korea announced a comprehensive tourism plan on Wednesday to attract 30 million visitors. The initiative, titled "K-Tourism Embraces the World," aims to capitalize on the global popularity of South Korean culture. Key measures include visa-free entry for Indonesian travelers and expanded automated entry for EU nationals. The plan also addresses issues like price gouging. This effort comes as South Korea seeks to compete with Japan's booming tourism industry, despite having surpassed its own pre-pandemic visitor numbers with over 18 million in 2025. The announcement was made at the 11th National Tourism Strategy Meeting, led by Prime Minister Kim Min-seok.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

K-Tourism Embraces the World 40% European Union 50% Seoul ×250% Chae Hwi-young 60% Kim Min-seok 60% Indonesia 70% Japan ×270% South Korea ×590%

Keywords

tourism 100% south korea 90% visa policy 80% inbound visitors 70% indonesia 60% post-pandemic recovery 50% k-tourism 50% japan 40% airport routes 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Positive

Score: 0.30

Source Transparency

Source

South China Morning Post

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

South Korea

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis.

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tourism south korea visa policy inbound visitors indonesia post-pandemic recovery k-tourism japan airport routes

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