Korea Tourism Organization and KBL Sign Agreement to Attract Foreign Tourists Through Basketball Collaboration

The Korea Tourism Organization announced that it had signed a business agreement with the Korean Basketball League (KBL) on the 10th at the KBL Center in Seoul to attract foreign tourists by linking domestic basketball games with tourism.

The Korea Tourism Organization explained that this agreement was signed to create new demand for inbound tourism by combining the popularity of KBL’s foreign players overseas with Korea’s unique sports cheering culture.

Ban Ho-cheol, Head of Themed Tourism Team at Korea Tourism Organization (right), and Shin Haeyong, Secretary General of the Korean Basketball League, are taking a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement on the 10th.
Photo by Korea Tourism Organization

Through this agreement, the Korea Tourism Organization and KBL will develop basketball-themed travel packages for foreign visitors and jointly promote them. The two organizations will launch a pilot travel package in the Philippines during the 2025-2026 season, which will include watching games of the Anyang Jeong Kwan Jang Red Boosters. Rhenz Abando of Jeong Kwan Jang, who has played for the Philippine national team, enjoys high popularity both in the Philippines and in Korea. The basketball-themed travel package will debut in January next year and will be operated a total of four times until April 2026.

The Korea Tourism Organization also plans to promote Korean tourism through its integrated platform ‘Visit Korea’ by utilizing photos and videos of KBL players.

Ban Hocheol, Head of the Themed Tourism Team at the Korea Tourism Organization, stated, “This year, more than 500 foreign tourists visited Korea through travel packages themed around Korean baseball and e-sports. Expanding the scope to Korean basketball through this collaboration with KBL is especially meaningful. Going forward, the Korea Tourism Organization will continue to launch travel packages that allow visitors to experience a variety of sports beyond just spectating, in order to further expand inbound demand.”

Meanwhile, the KBL is currently operating the ‘Asia Quota’ system, which partially allows the recruitment of foreign players from Asia to strengthen the competitiveness and internationalization of Korean basketball. Currently, 10 such players are active in Korea.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.