From restaurant call bells to AI hanbok: Korea's pavilion turns heads at London travel fair

Korea Tourism Organization runs pavilion at London WTM

One of world's top 3 travel fairs, drawing 180 countries

790 one-on-one business consultations held on site

Booth design draws on hanbok and mother-of-pearl motifs

AI king photo kiosk proves a crowd favorite

The Korea Tourism Organization's pavilion at the 2026 World Travel Market in London [Korea Tourism Organization]

A South Korea pavilion showcasing K-culture — complete with an AI photo kiosk and a restaurant-style call bell — drew strong interest from international buyers at one of the world's top three tourism trade fairs.

The Korea Tourism Organization said Friday it participated in the World Travel Market, held at ExCeL London from Tuesday through Thursday, promoting inbound tourism to South Korea for a global travel industry audience.

WTM is one of the world's three largest international tourism trade fairs, drawing participants from roughly 180 countries each year; this year's edition attracted about 5,500 global buyers. The organization ran the Korea tourism pavilion alongside 23 partner institutions — including regional tourism foundations, domestic travel agencies and hotels — to showcase the country's tourism offerings. During the fair, it conducted a total of 790 one-on-one business consultations.

The Korea tourism pavilion, designed with hanbok jeogori silhouettes and mother-of-pearl patterns to reflect Korean aesthetics, combined a business consultation area with a K-culture experience zone that drew buyers in. Highlights included an AI-powered photo kiosk that composited visitors' images onto Joseon-era kings and queens, and an event serving traditional Korean tea through a call-bell system modeled on the table buzzers found in Korean restaurants.

Ewen Moore, sales director at UK-based Bamboo Travel, visited the pavilion and said growing local interest in South Korea was broadening the range of travelers seeking Korean travel products. "Demand is expanding beyond K-drama and K-beauty fans to include people who want to experience Korea's history and regional cities," Moore said. "We plan to introduce a wider variety of travel products that highlight the appeal of destinations beyond the Greater Seoul area."

Jeong Seok-in, head of the Korea Tourism Organization's international tourism division, said the United Kingdom is a key European source market for inbound visitors, growing at an average of more than 20 percent a year. "Through our participation in WTM, we confirmed again the high level of interest in Korean tourism and the strong business demand," Jeong said. "We will continue to strengthen our local buyer network and actively support the development of results-driven inbound travel products to accelerate the attraction of British tourists."

terry@heraldcorp.com