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South Korea’s Jeju Island, a self-governing tourist hotspot, will reportedly trial NFT tourist cards in a bid to attract the country’s younger generation.
South Korea’s Jeju Island is reportedly planning to issue non-fungible token (NFT) tourist cards in a bid to boost visitation by the country’s younger generations.
Local news outlet the Maeil Business Newspaper reported on Jan. 5 that Jeju plans to issue digital tourism cards in conjunction with an NFT in the second half of 2025, which will also come with a slate of perks.
The island hopes the digital and NFT-based travel cards will pique the interest of millennials and Generation Z — those born between the late 1980s and early 2010s — and increase the rate of returning younger tourists.
Jeju is South Korea’s largest island and a tourist hotspot known for hiking trails and resorts. It’s the country’s first self-governing province with its own local government and has a long history with crypto initiatives, having launched a blockchain-based COVID-19 contact tracing app in 2021.
The NFT-linked tourist cards, which will first undergo a trial before a slated full rollout in the second half of 2025, will offer travel subsidies and discounts on tourist spots around the island.
Jeju Island’s volcano, Seongsan Ilchulbong, or Sunrise Peak, is a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site and a top tourist spot. Source: Basile Morin/Wikimedia Commons
In March 2024, CNB News reported that Jeju Island officials met to explore how blockchain and NFTs could help the island’s economy and discussed the use of NFTs in tourism, such as for museums and restaurants, along with how the tech could apply to its fishing industry.
Related: South Korea’s FSC denies decision on corporate crypto account roadmap
South Koreans flocked back to crypto late last year as the markets rose on renewed regulatory optimism in the United States.
Democratic Party of Korea Representative Lim Kwang-Hyun said last month that the number of South Korean crypto users increased by 610,000 in November 2024, bringing the total number of crypto users to 15.6 million — or around 30% of the country’s population.
NFT sales volumes reached a total of $8.83 billion in 2024, beating 2023 figures by $100 million but still far down from their peak year in 2022, where they recorded $23.7 billion in sales volumes.
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