Digital Tourism Resident Card for Foreigners: What Korea’s Winning Policy Proposal Means

The Digital Tourism Resident Card for foreigners is not yet described as an active service in the available official material, but it has become a concrete policy idea in Korea. On June 26, 2026, a proposal titled “Introducing a Global Digital Tourism Resident Card and Building an Integrated Regional Tourism Service Ecosystem” won the top prize in a public tourism policy contest run by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization.¹

The key point for international travelers is simple: the winning proposal would expand a program currently centered on domestic users so that foreign visitors could receive a Digital Tourism Resident Card, connect it with local transportation passes and stay-based tourism products, and encourage more travel spending outside the most crowded destinations.¹

Digital Tourism Resident Card for Foreigners: Current Status

For now, the most important detail is eligibility. The current Digital Tourism Resident Card is described as a system for increasing “tourism-type living population” in population-decline regions by offering discounts on experiences, shopping, and other local benefits, and it is currently operated for Korean nationals.²

That means foreign travelers should not assume they can already receive the card under the same terms. The foreigner-focused version is a policy proposal, not a confirmed nationwide launch described in the available sources. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said proposals with strong policy potential would be reviewed with related agencies and considered for development into tourism policy and related projects.²

The proposal’s direction is practical rather than symbolic. It does not only suggest translating an existing card for international users. It proposes connecting issuance for foreign visitors with regional transportation passes and stay-oriented tourism products, so the card could work as part of a broader travel system.¹ In travel terms, that would make the card more useful if it helps visitors move between regions, stay longer, and redeem benefits through local businesses.

What the Existing Card Already Offers in Korea

The current program has already grown within Korea. On June 8, 2026, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced with the Korea Tourism Organization that Digital Tourism Resident Card operating areas would expand to 52 basic local governments.³ The newly added areas were Boeun, Sunchang, Goheung, Damyang, Wando, Uljin, Sancheong, and Hamyang, and the number of benefit locations increased to about 1,400.³

That expansion matters because it shows the base program is not a small pilot limited to only a few places. The 52 operating areas represent 58.4% of Korea’s 89 population-decline regions, according to the ministry announcement.³ Yonhap also reported that the service area increased from 44 locations to 52, while benefit locations rose from about 1,100 to about 1,400.⁴

Examples of listed benefits include a 30% discount at Wando Marine Healing Center, a 35% discount for Damyang aviation experiences, and a 25% discount for Uljin Wangpicheon Cable Car.⁴ These examples help explain what the card is meant to do: make regional travel more attractive by giving visitors direct reasons to choose local activities, shops, and attractions.

The government’s language also suggests a shift from simple expansion to improving the program’s substance. Kang Dong-jin, tourism policy director at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the program is “preparing for qualitative growth beyond external expansion.”⁴ For readers watching the foreigner version, that phrase is useful because it frames the next stage as more than adding places; it points to better-linked benefits and stronger regional tourism services.

What Foreign Travelers Should Watch Next

If the foreigner version moves forward, the most useful updates will be practical ones: who can apply, where issuance happens, which languages are supported, whether the card connects to transport passes, and which local tourism products qualify. The current sources do not provide an application date, foreign visitor eligibility rules, app instructions, or a launch schedule.

The policy contest result does, however, show official interest. The contest received 1,121 submissions and selected 20 winners: one top-prize proposal, two excellence-prize proposals, and 17 encouragement-prize proposals.¹ Because the top-prize proposal specifically centered on foreigner issuance and regional service integration, it is the clearest source-backed signal that a global version is being considered.

There is also earlier discussion around this direction. In a March 12, 2025 Maeil Business Newspaper interview, Lee Kyung-sang, a professor at the KAIST Moon Soul Graduate School of Future Strategy, discussed expanding the Digital Tourism Resident Card concept to foreigners and proposed a tourism-citizen model called “K-citizen.”⁵ The article said the program began in Pyeongchang and Okcheon in 2022, expanded to 34 local governments by 2024, and had surpassed 4 million cumulative issued cards.⁵

For a foreign visitor planning a Korea trip, the safest approach is to treat the current foreigner card as a policy development to monitor, not a benefit to rely on when budgeting. If a launch is later confirmed, travelers should check whether the card is tied to specific regions, transportation products, accommodation packages, or local events before building an itinerary around it.

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Patrick Choi

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