The Korea Tourism Organization has named “D.U.A.L.I.S.M.” as its keyword for 2026 travel trends, a framework built around the coexistence of seemingly contradictory values, technology and emotion, luxury and practicality, among the forces the agency says are reshaping how both domestic and international travelers experience Korea this year.
Rather than identifying a single dominant travel behavior, the D.U.A.L.I.S.M. framework is explicitly built around tension and coexistence: travelers seeking hyper-efficient, tech-enabled trip planning while simultaneously craving slower, more emotionally resonant experiences; visitors splurging on premium accommodations or experiences in one part of a trip while deliberately economizing elsewhere. Tourism officials frame this as evidence that Korean and international travelers alike are no longer choosing between binary travel styles but blending them within a single trip.
The framing arrives as Korea’s inbound tourism numbers continue setting records, giving the tourism organization’s annual trend report outsized influence over how hotels, attractions and travel marketers position their offerings for the year ahead. Industry watchers note that Korea’s tourism trend keywords have increasingly moved away from simple thematic labels, budget travel, luxury travel, toward more conceptual, almost academic framings that attempt to capture the psychological complexity of contemporary travel decision-making.
Whether “dualism” proves to be a durable lens for understanding 2026 travel behavior or simply a marketing framework destined to be replaced by next year’s keyword remains to be seen, but its adoption signals that Korea’s tourism sector is increasingly comfortable embracing complexity and contradiction rather than a single simplified travel archetype.
Source: Korea Tourism Organization, “Coexistence of Opposing Values, 2026 Tourism Trends” briefing, via Visit Korea Academy.
