The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Jan. 23 announced its list of the country's 27 best culture and tourism festivals for 2026-27. Shown is a scene from last year's Sejong Festival, which honors King Sejong the Great and made this year's list. (Official Facebook page of Sejong Culture and Tourism Foundation's festival culture team)

By Aisylu Akhmetzianova

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Jan. 23 released its list of the country's 27 best culture and tourism festivals for the 2026-27 period.

The list has 20 events redesignated from the 2024–25 roster and seven new ones including the Busan International Rock Festival, Nonsan Strawberry Festival and Sejong Festival, which honors King Sejong the Great of the Joseon Dynasty.

In cooperation with the Korea Tourism Organization, the ministry will invest KRW 40 million in each event over two years to boost the festivals' competitiveness and brand awareness, along with support for their global promotion, development of travel products and content competitiveness, and improvement of acceptance of artificial intelligence.

Starting this year, the method of individual support for existing culture and tourism and preparatory festivals was changed to linkages with global events under the same theme, geographical proximity and leading tourist attractions by region.

To this end, the ministry raised its budget for the festivals from KRW 6.5 billion last year to KRW 10.4 billion this year. Another three global and four prospective festivals will also be chosen.

aisylu@korea.kr