Barrier-free tourism information center opens at KTX Ulsan Station, the city's main gateway; wheelchairs and strollers available for loan

Tourists visiting Ulsan receive travel information at the Ulsan Open Tourism Information Center on the first floor of KTX Ulsan Station. [Ulsan city government]
Tourists visiting Ulsan receive travel information at the Ulsan Open Tourism Information Center on the first floor of KTX Ulsan Station. [Ulsan city government]

Ulsan is stepping up its transformation into a tourism destination — from an industrial city to a garden city hosting the 2028 Ulsan International Garden Expo, and now a cultural tourism hub following the World Heritage inscription of the Bangucheon petroglyphs and its designation as South Korea's top travel city for 2026. As part of that push, the city is expanding tourism services to reach visitors who face mobility or access barriers.

To improve access to travel information and ease of movement, Ulsan opened the Ulsan Open Tourism Information Center at KTX Ulsan Station — the city's main gateway — on Thursday. The barrier-free facility is designed to help tourists with disabilities, older visitors, and families with infants and young children enjoy the city without inconvenience or restriction.

Built at a cost of 149 million won ($112,000), the center occupies 27 square meters on the first floor of KTX Ulsan Station and features a barrier-free tourism information counter and a display space for Ulsan tourism materials. It also stocks mobility aids for visitors who need them, including five wheelchairs, three strollers and three ramps.

A tourism guide is on duty daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., providing information on major attractions, transportation and visitor facilities across the city. The center also offers tailored guidance for tourists with disabilities, older visitors, pregnant women, and families with young children, and lends out wheelchairs, strollers and other mobility aids.

Ulsan plans to keep expanding its accessibility infrastructure beyond the new KTX station center. A second facility, the Taehwagang Station Open Tourism Information Center, is set to open this month to serve visitors arriving at Taehwagang Station on the opposite, downtown side of the city. Starting next year, the city will also operate a double-decker barrier-free city tour bus accessible to wheelchair users, and will continue to expand tourism information and convenience services for visitors with access needs.

In 2024, Ulsan was selected for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's program to strengthen barrier-free tourism connectivity. Through this year, the city is carrying out a combined 8 billion won project — 4 billion won each in national and municipal funding — covering improvements to tourism transportation, construction of barrier-free tourism infrastructure, and development and operation of tailored tourism products.

"The KTX Ulsan Station barrier-free tourism information center will help visitors travel around Ulsan as efficiently as possible," a city official said. "Just as Ulsan led the nation's industrialization as an industrial city, we will continue to build up our tourism infrastructure so the city can also play a role as an attractive tourism destination."


cityblue@heraldcorp.com