More than 500 attend National Assembly members’ office building in Seoul’s Yeouido on 22 September; Venerable Maga joins panel on meditation healing
The Act on the Promotion of the Healing Tourism Industry came into force in April this year, prompting serious policy discussions on linking healing and tourism. The ‘2026 National Assembly Policy Debate on Fostering and Developing K-Healing Tourism’, held at the National Assembly members’ office building in Seoul’s Yeouido on 22 September, was the first major public forum on the subject. Alongside forests, the sea, agriculture and food, meditation and yoga featured as separate discussion topics.
Event co-hosted by 15 lawmakers
The debate was co-hosted by 15 lawmakers, including Jung Joon-ho and Cho Kye-won. It was organised by the Korea Barefoot Walking Movement Headquarters, a registered association, and the Smart Medical and Wellness Tourism College at Kongju National University, with support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
More than 500 people attended, including representatives of the National Assembly and government, academics, figures from various sectors and members of the public. Eleven lawmakers, including National Assembly speaker Jo Jeong-sik, sent video messages of congratulations, while lawmakers Joo Ho-young, Park Hee-seung and Kim Seong-beom delivered congratulatory remarks in person. Kim Na-na, director of the Convergence and Fusion Tourism Division at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, also attended.
Law-maker Kim Yun-duk, who introduced the Bill on the Promotion of the Healing Tourism Industry, said in a video message: “Barefoot walking is the most powerful and outstanding content in K-healing tourism.”
Turning more than 2,000 barefoot walking trails nationwide into healing tourism infrastructure
Park Dong-chang, chairman of the Korea Barefoot Walking Movement Headquarters, delivered the first presentation. He proposed linking more than 2,000 barefoot walking trails across the country with other healing resources to usher in an era of 50 million healing tourists. The idea is to connect the most accessible form of exercise — walking — with healing programmes in forests, by the sea, in rural areas and at temples.
Target of 17.5 trillion won in economic benefits by 2030
Lee Yong-geun, a professor at Kongju National University, presented a national strategy for fostering K-healing tourism. He proposed a target of 17.5 trillion won in economic benefits and 190,000 new jobs by 2030, along with the K-Healing Index (KHI), a three-pronged assessment system measuring brainwaves, the autonomic nervous system and bioenergy. He also put forward a blockchain-based digital healing passport and a local settlement model centred on young creators.
Lee stressed the need to develop programmes tailored to each region. He proposed establishing an integrated control tower for healing tourism under the presidential office, backed by parliamentary budget and tax support, as well as training specialist personnel for the sector.
Park Min-geun, a professor at Shinhan University, presented a strategy for combining healing agriculture and the healing industry, stressing the need to integrate the fragmented healing sectors. “K-healing tourism, which provides physical and mental recovery for people living in the AI era, is a future core industry that will revitalise local economies and create new jobs,” Park said. “I hope healing tourism takes root as a national strategic industry.”
Venerable Maga joins meditation healing session
Nine people took part in the sector-by-sector discussion. Park Beom-jin, a professor at Chungnam National University, represented forest healing; Jang Tae-soo, a professor at Dankook University, marine healing; Ha Kyung-hee, a professor at Semyung University, tourism; Park Min-geun of Shinhan University, healing agriculture; Min Hyeong-gi, chairman of the Korean Whole Grain Natural Food Association, food healing; Kim Seong-won, chairman of the International Society of Integrative Therapy, yoga healing; Lim Na-young, a professor at Gachon University, arts healing; and Choi Won-yu, chairman of the Korea AI Beauty Tech Association, medical tourism.
Venerable Maga joined the discussion on meditation healing. It marked a moment when meditation was recognised as an independent healing resource on an equal footing with forests, the sea and medical care, with a representative of the meditation community taking part directly.
The panellists agreed on the need to combine resources from each sector with barefoot walking to develop healing tourism products and programmes suited to local characteristics. They also agreed that training specialist workers known as ‘healing tourism guides’ was an urgent task.
What it means for meditation to reach the policy table
Participants agreed that healing tourism should go beyond expanding the boundaries of the tourism industry to promote healthy lives, preventive healthcare and a better quality of life for the public.
The fact that meditation was discussed as a component of national tourism policy, rather than simply as an individual practice or temple programme, is significant. As authorities select wellness tourism destinations and expand healing forests, facilities offering meditation programmes are increasingly likely to become eligible for institutional support. The debate also addressed institutional tasks including an integrated implementation system, the designation of healing tourism industry zones and the introduction of healing tourism vouchers.
The Healing Tourism Industry Promotion Act came into force in April this year. The fact that meditation was given its own discussion category at the first major public forum after the law was enacted shows that policymakers’ view of the sector is changing.
National declaration ceremony follows debate
After the event, participants moved to the National Assembly’s lawn for a ‘National Declaration Ceremony to Build a Dementia-Free Country’. The event showed how discussions on healing tourism intersect with the health agenda in an ageing society.
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