Jeju Island Plans to Issue NFT Tourist Cards to Attract Younger Generations

South Korea's Jeju Island is reportedly planning to issue non-fungible token (NFT) tourist cards in a bid to boost visitation by the country's younger generations.

South Korea’s Jeju Island is planning to issue non-fungible token (NFT)-based tourist cards in a bid to boost visitation by the country’s younger generations, according to a Jan. 5 report by local news outlet the Maeil Business Newspaper.

The digital tourism cards will be issued in the second half of 2025 and will come with a range of perks, including travel subsidies and discounts at tourist spots around the island. The cards will be linked to an NFT, which will also offer additional benefits.

Jeju hopes the digital and NFT-based travel cards will pique the interest of millennials and Generation Z — those born between the late 1980s and early 2010s — and increase the rate of returning younger tourists.

Jeju is South Korea’s largest island and a tourist hotspot known for hiking trails and resorts. It’s the country’s first self-governing province with its own local government that has a history with crypto initiatives, having launched a blockchain-based COVID-19 contact tracing app in 2021.

The NFT-linked tourist cards, which will first undergo a trial before a slated full rollout in the second half of 2025, will offer travel subsidies and discounts on tourist spots around the island.

Memecoins, institutional adoption and growth: Eric He maps LBank’s future

LBank’s community angel officer and risk control adviser, Eric He, shares insights into LBank’s current progress, significant achievements and future market strategies.

The crypto market is entering a new phase, driven by increasing institutional adoption and enhanced liquidity.

In this evolving environment, global crypto exchange LBank recorded over 15 million registered users, underscoring the sector’s accelerating growth and broader recognition.

Founded in 2015, LBank supports over 800 cryptocurrencies. As the industry looks ahead to 2025, LBank community angel officer and risk control adviser Eric He discusses the exchange’s current developments, future plans and his outlook for the changing crypto landscape.

Cointelegraph: During the third quarter of 2024, you stepped down on the exchange’s 9th anniversary and have implemented five key steps. What is the follow-up progress and market performance?

Eric He: Facts are the best mirror of all.

The five strategies presented in Q3 truly reflect LBank’s historical needs and driving market placement. In particular, we optimized the listing strategy in December and unveiled the “X Plan” with an exclusive whitelist mechanism.

Jeju Island’s volcano, Seongsan Ilchulbong, or Sunrise Peak, is a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site and a top tourist spot. Source: Basile Morin/Wikimedia Commons

In March 2024, CNB News reported that Jeju Island officials met to explore how blockchain and NFTs could help the island’s economy. They discussed the use of NFTs in tourism, including for museums and restaurants, along with how the tech might apply to the fishing industry.

Related: South Korea’s FSC denies decision on corporate crypto account roadmap 

South Koreans flocked back to crypto late last year as the markets rose on renewed regulatory optimism in the United States.

Democratic Party of Korea Representative Lim Kwang-Hyun said last month that the number of South Korean crypto users increased by 610,000 in November 2024, bringing the total number to 15.6 million, about 30% of the country’s population.

NFT sales volumes reached a total of $8.83 billion in 2024, beating 2023 figures by $100 million but still far down from their peak year in 2022, where they recorded $23.7 billion in sales volumes.

Asia Express: ‘China’s MicroStrategy’ Meitu sells all its Bitcoin and Ethereum