Klook, Korea Tourism Organization renew partnership to boost regional tourism, AI innovation

Seoul, South Korea – Klook has signed a new two-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), expanding their collaboration to accelerate digital tourism, promote lesser-known destinations, and develop AI-powered visitor experiences.

The renewed partnership will focus on four key areas: supporting the digital transformation of Korean tourism businesses, promoting regional destinations, developing marketing campaigns for free independent travellers (FIT), and building smart tourism solutions through traveller insights and artificial intelligence.

The agreement comes as demand for travel beyond Seoul continues to rise. 

The companies said the partnership aims to capitalise on this shift towards experience-led travel by increasing international awareness of Korea’s regional destinations and encouraging a more balanced distribution of visitors across the country.

Sunghyeuck Park, President and CEO of the Korea Tourism Organization, said the collaboration will help make Korea more accessible while supporting local tourism businesses.

“Korea continues to capture the imagination of travellers around the world, driven by its rich culture, vibrant cities, and diverse regional destinations. Through this partnership with Klook, we aim to make it even easier for international travellers to discover more of Korea, while supporting local tourism businesses in adapting to changing traveller needs.”

Park added that combining KTO’s tourism network with Klook’s digital platform and traveller insights would create new opportunities for the country’s tourism industry.

Klook also plans to leverage its Kreator Program, which comprises more than 30,000 travel creators across 88 markets and has generated over 1.8 billion content views, to promote Korean destinations among Millennial and Gen Z travellers across Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe.

CS Soong, Vice President of Corporate Development at Klook, said the partnership would strengthen both destination discovery and industry growth.

“Working closely with KTO allows us to combine digital access, traveller insights, and destination storytelling to create meaningful ways for travellers to experience Korea. At the same time, this partnership will help more Korean tourism businesses connect with international travellers and participate in the growth of the tourism economy.”

The renewed agreement builds on previous collaborations between the two organisations. In 2023, Klook and KTO partnered to improve domestic transport access for international visitors through real-time express bus bookings.

Earlier this year, Klook also introduced real-time KORAIL ticket bookings, allowing travellers to search schedules, reserve seats and board trains using digital vouchers through its platform.

Together, the organisations said they will continue investing in digital tools, AI technologies and destination marketing to strengthen Korea’s tourism ecosystem while encouraging travellers to explore beyond its major gateway cities.