South Korea’s Jeju Island to launch NFT-powered tourism cards in 2025

Jeju Island, South Korea’s most famous tourist destination, is embracing blockchain technology to transform its tourism sector.

Starting in the second half of 2025, the autonomous province plans to launch NFT-based digital visitor cards, offering discounts, travel subsidies and special member benefits to popular attractions.

NFT visitor cards

Reports from local outlets indicate that the initiative is aimed at Millennials and Generation Z travelers with the aim of boosting the island’s tourism industry by offering a technology-based experience.

NFT cards will leverage blockchain technology to store visitor data, such as travel history, photos and videos, on a secure and tamper-proof platform. Although details about the blockchain platform and card prices are not yet available, a test phase precedes the full launch to test the feasibility of the program.

This initiative builds on Jeju Island’s history of blockchain technology exploration. For example, in 2019, the island launched a government-backed research project to position itself as a global blockchain hub. Subsequent projects included a COVID-19 contact tracing app in 2021 and an energy usage monitoring platform in 2022, both powered by blockchain.

Web 3 South Korea Focus

The move also aligns with South Korea’s broader focus on Web 3 and digital innovation. South Korea began exploring NFTs in 2021 to examine the integration of this sector into its tax system. The following year, NFTs were used to raise funds for presidential campaigns in Seoul.

More recently, the country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), issued guidelines on NFTs outlining cases where these tokens should be considered crypto assets.

Additionally, South Korea has devoted significant resources to the metaverse. It had previously announced plans to invest more than $187 million to encourage job creation and technology growth.

Last month, South Korea’s trade volume saw a massive increase amid political tension. As a result, the country saw a dramatic increase in crypto adoption. By the end of 2024, the country’s crypto user base had surpassed 15.5 million.

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