Yanolja Research

 What makes a city truly attractive to travelers? The 2026 Yanolja Attractiveness Index looks beyond infrastructure and visitor numbers to evaluate tourism cities from the traveler’s perspective. The index combines two key dimensions: 💭 Awareness — How widely is the city known and talked about? ❤️ Attractiveness — How positively do travelers feel about the city? Based on large-scale multilingual social data, the 2026 study evaluated 261 cities worldwide. New York ranked #1 overall, while Osaka ranked #1 in Attractiveness. Seoul placed #5 overall, combining strong global awareness with highly positive evaluations of the actual travel experience. 📊 Explore the full city rankings: Yanolja Attractiveness Index Ranking 📄 Read the full 2026 Yanolja Attractiveness Index report: [Yanolja Research Insights Vol.45] The 2026 Yanolja Attractiveness Index

More courses, more players — and growth is in full swing.🏌️ South Korea’s park golf scene is expanding rapidly. The number of courses grew from 328 in 2022 to 552 in 2025, while Korea Parkgolf Association membership more than doubled from 106,505 to 229,757 over the same period. With both infrastructure and participation accelerating, park golf is emerging as a notable segment of Korea’s broader leisure and golf landscape. Want to know what’s next for South Korea’s golf industry? ⛳ Explore how demographic shifts and macroeconomic trends are reshaping the industry — and what they could mean for its future. [Yanolja Research Insights Vol.29] The Future of the Golf Industry: Demographics and Macroeconomic Trends

How much do hotel room rates change throughout the year in South Korea? Hotel room rates show a clear seasonal pattern. Nationwide hotel ADR (Average Daily Rate) remained relatively low from April to June 2025 before rising sharply in July and peaking during the summer travel season. Rates moderated afterward, but continued to fluctuate at elevated levels through early 2026. These monthly movements illustrate how closely hotel pricing responds to shifts in travel demand throughout the year. Explore the latest lodging industry trends—including ADR, OCC, and RevPAR—on the Yanolja Research Data Lab dashboard. [Yanolja Research DataLab] Lodging industry performance indexes Dashboard

How South Korea’s International Aviation Market Is Shifting Amid Middle East Uncertainty Geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East has added new pressure to the global aviation market. Rising fuel costs, higher passenger surcharges, and changing route economics are influencing how airlines allocate capacity. In South Korea, however, the emerging picture is not one of broad market contraction . Instead, growth is becoming increasingly differentiated across airlines, routes, and regions. Fuel Costs Rose Quickly. Aviation Supply Is Adjusting More Gradually. Restrictions affecting the Strait of Hormuz drove a sharp increase in jet fuel prices. Prices rose approximately 83% in just three weeks , from USD 2.43 per gallon to USD 4.45. Six months later, prices remained around 44% above the pre-conflict level . The impact subsequently reached travelers: International fuel surcharges increased to roughly three times their March level in April . Surcharges rose again in May before declining fro...

What makes a tourism city truly attractive? The 2026 Yanolja Attractiveness Index looks beyond infrastructure and visitor numbers to evaluate tourism cities from the traveler’s perspective—how cities are perceived, experienced, and remembered. The framework breaks Tourism City Attractiveness into 4 dimensions and 17 sub-dimensions: 🌿 Beauty & Natural Scenery Natural scenery and phenomena · Flora and fauna 🏛️ Culture & History Historical places · Educational places · Traditional culture · Religious attractions · Architectural and aesthetic attractions 🍽️ Experiential Content Food · Accommodations · Shopping · Theme parks · Nightlife · Sports · Activities · Festivals and events 🤝 Hospitality Friendliness of local residents · Friendliness of service providers The key idea is simple: tourism attractiveness is not merely the sum of a city’s resources. Nature and culture provide things to see, experiential content creates things to do, and hospitality shapes what travelers ultima...

South Korea’s Tourism Market Enters a New Phase in H1 2026 South Korea’s tourism market showed a notable shift in the first half of 2026. Inbound tourism reached a new high, outbound travel approached pre-pandemic levels, and the tourism balance improved sharply. Behind the headline numbers, several structural changes are emerging—from more diversified inbound demand and regional gateways to the growing role of high-value tourism and changing outbound travel patterns. Inbound Tourism Reaches a New High Foreign tourist arrivals reached 10.71 million in H1 2026 , the highest level recorded for any first-half period. That represents: +21.3% year-over-year +26.9% compared with H1 2019 Continued monthly strength after arrivals surpassed 2 million in March Growth was also broad-based. Asian arrivals exceeded pre-pandemic levels, while demand from the Americas, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East, and Africa continued to expand. China, Japan and Taiwan Drive Strong Growth China remained Korea’s ...