Global Workation Model Linked with Cheongju International Airport

Chungnam Province and the Chungnam Culture and Tourism Foundation announced that they recently held workation fam tours for domestic and foreign companies and digital nomads in cooperation with local governments and the Korea Tourism Organization. The fam tour was conducted in two rounds: the first round took place in Gongju, Buyeo, and Boryeong from Tuesday, September 29 to Friday, October 2, while the second round was held in Nonsan, Yesan, and Taean from Monday, October 12 to Thursday, October 15.

Launched in 2023, "Workation Chungnam" has grown into a new regional stay-based business model, with participation surging from 450 people in its inaugural year to 2,649 last year. This latest fam tour was organized with the ultimate goal of expanding Chungnam’s workation market.

The first-round fam tour designed its route using metropolitan transportation networks such as Cheongju International Airport and C-Tour Buses, allowing overseas visitors to travel conveniently to the Chungnam region without passing through the capital area. This is expected to serve as an important foundation for enhancing the accessibility of future overseas workation participants and strengthening Chungnam’s global workation competitiveness.

The second-round fam tour was conducted as an experiential workation reflecting the unique characteristics of each region for domestic and international digital nomads. By utilizing the tourism resources of newly added workation regions like Nonsan and Yesan for stay-based workations, alongside marine tourism-focused workations in Taean, participants were able to experience Chungnam's diverse workation charms and working environments.

More than 70% of the participants in this fam tour indicated that they were introduced to Chungnam workations for the first time through the event. In a survey conducted after the fam tour, 80% of respondents stated that they would like to revisit Chungnam for workation or tourism purposes, and 94% responded that they would recommend Chungnam workation to others.

An overseas corporate workation manager who participated noted, "I had doubts about conducting a workation overseas, but through this fam tour, I was able to confirm Chungnam's excellent workation facilities and local resources." They added, "Moving forward, we will actively pursue introducing Korean workations within our company."

In addition, a workation official from a Japanese local government shared, "I was deeply impressed by Chungnam’s various efforts to revitalize workations." They expressed anticipation, saying, "To solve the common problem of population decline, small and rural cities in Korea and Japan can cooperate and create new solutions together, such as expanding the resident population through workations."

This workation fam tour is noteworthy for three main aspects. First, it breaks away from the conventional practice of transiting through the capital area, directly connecting overseas visitors to regions via regional airports such as Cheongju International Airport. Second, it proposed a way to reduce language barriers and local transportation inconveniences for overseas visitors by linking C-Tour Buses and Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) systems. Finally, it verified the actual feasibility of program adoption targeting overseas companies and digital nomads with high potential for workation exchange.

Previously, regional tourism targeting overseas visitors generally followed a structure of entering through major airports in the capital area such as Incheon International Airport, staying in Seoul, and then moving to regional areas. However, by directly connecting regional airports with local transportation networks and combining them with the new content of workations, a "Local to Local" global workation model becomes possible—where overseas visitors can directly travel, work, and live in regional cities in Korea without necessarily passing through major tourist spots or large metropolitan areas. In particular, regions like Chungnam Province that have spent years preparing their workation environments are demonstrating the potential to grow into new global workation destinations by offering experiences differentiated from major cities and famous tourist attractions.

The Head of the Tourism Business Division at the Chungnam Culture and Tourism Foundation emphasized, "For a region to grow into a global workation destination, good accommodations and excellent workspace alone are not enough." They stressed, "Flights coming into the region from overseas, transportation from the airport to the region, workation workspaces and accommodations, and local content must all be connected into a single seamless journey."

This fam tour holds significant meaning as it presented the possibility that Chungnam can grow not just as a secondary destination visited after stopping in the capital area, but as a new global workation destination chosen by overseas visitors for their primary stay from the very beginning.

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]