67 booths to showcase rural tourism across the country at Monday's festival; 12.72 million visitors flocked to rural villages last year

Promotional poster for the 2026 Rural Travel Festival [Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs]
Promotional poster for the 2026 Rural Travel Festival [Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs]

With summer vacation season approaching, a festival showcasing the appeal of rural communities from across the country is coming to the heart of Seoul.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced Thursday that it will hold the "2026 Rural Travel Festival" at Seoul Plaza on Monday.

Running under the theme "A Comma in a Busy Life — Chon-cance," a portmanteau blending the Korean word for countryside with "vacance," the event will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Representative rural experience and recreation villages from nine provinces nationwide, along with the ministry, the Rural Development Administration, the Korea Forest Service and young rural tourism entrepreneurs, will operate 67 promotional and hands-on booths.

Visitors can take part in a range of regionally themed activities — making injeolmi rice cakes and traditional yeot candy, crafting natural air fresheners, dyeing fabric with persimmon tannin, and creating keyrings and other handmade crafts.

A dedicated pavilion will introduce rural tourism policies and support programs. Interactive offerings will include AI instant photo booths and a DIY keycap keyring workshop.

The main stage will feature traditional cultural performances, including a daduimi nanta percussion show from Oeam Village in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, and a honam yeoseong nongak pangut farmers' band performance from Gajeong Village in Gokseong, South Jeolla Province. Rural tourism OX and initial-consonant quiz games, along with a summer evening live concert, are also on the program.

Visitors can join a stamp tour through the rural village pavilions, spin a roulette wheel for prizes, vote for their favorite booth, and take part in a satisfaction survey.

A commemorative ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. that day, with the agriculture minister, the president of the Korea Rural Community Corporation and the chair of the Rural Experience and Recreation Village Council in attendance. Participants will stage a performance delivering the messages "Travel to the countryside this summer" and "A comma in a busy life — chon-cance."

Demand for rural tourism has been rising steadily. Last year, 12.72 million people visited 1,192 rural experience and recreation villages nationwide, including 170,000 foreign tourists.

During a pilot "Rural Tourism Week" the ministry ran from August through November last year, visits to rural experience and recreation villages rose 34.9 percent compared with the same period the previous year, while traffic to the rural tourism portal "Welchon" climbed 61.9 percent.

Jeon Han-young, director general for rural policy at the ministry, said rural areas are "a precious tourism resource where nature, culture, gastronomy and healing coexist." He added that he hopes the festival "will give city dwellers a chance to rest and create special memories in their daily lives, while bringing new vitality and economic opportunity to rural communities."


adastra@heraldcorp.com