Exploring a K-Healing Tourism Strategy Using Barefoot-Walking Trails... National Assembly Policy Forum Held

A policy forum was held to explore strategies for developing K-healing tourism using barefoot-walking trails following the enforcement of the Act on the Promotion of the Healing Tourism Industry.
The Barefoot Walking National Movement Headquarters and Kongju National University's Graduate School of Smart Medical and Wellness Tourism said on the 28th that they had held the "2026 National Assembly Policy Forum on Promoting and Developing K-Healing Tourism" at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 22nd.
The event, co-hosted by 15 National Assembly members and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), drew around 560 participants from the National Assembly and government, academia, and the forest, marine, agricultural, meditation, arts, and medical sectors.
Park Dong-chang, chairman of the Barefoot Walking National Movement Headquarters, proposed building Korea's representative healing-tourism infrastructure by connecting around 2,000 barefoot-walking trails nationwide with healing resources such as forests, marine areas, and agriculture. He made the proposal under the theme "A Strategy for Building K-Healing Tourism Infrastructure Linked to Barefoot-Walking Trails."
Lee Yong-Keun, a professor at Kongju National University, presented a region-specific healing-tourism model combining barefoot walking with locally specialized resources and medical and wellness programs. He emphasized the need for a control tower to lead integrated healing-tourism policies and for training specialized personnel.
Experts from each field then presented plans to develop programs that incorporate barefoot walking into healing resources in areas such as forestry, marine activities, agriculture, meditation, the arts, and medicine.
Participants agreed on the need to build healing-tourism facilities and programs that reflect regional characteristics and expertise, train professionals to operate them, and develop a Korean-style healing-tourism model combining "barefoot walking + region-specific healing industry + tourism."
Following the forum, the "National Proclamation Ceremony for Creating a Dementia-Free Nation" was also held on the lawn plaza in front of the main building of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. Participants shared the view that healing activities such as barefoot walking should be expanded into an everyday health culture to help improve public health and quality of life.
[email protected] Jeong Sun-min Reporter