On July 2, 2025, a joint seminar titled “2025 Global Tourism City Attractiveness Evaluation” was held at the Segyero Room on the 3rd floor of the aT Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

The seminar was co-hosted by Yanolja Research, Purdue University’s CHRIBA, and the H&T Analytics Center at Kyung Hee University. It was organized to introduce the Tourism City Attractiveness Evaluation Model and to announce the attractiveness index and comparative rankings of 200 cities worldwide.

The seminar began with a welcome remarks from Dr. SooCheong (Shawn) Jang, Director of Yanolja Research and Professor at Purdue University, followed by congratulatory remarks from Kim Jongyoon, CEO of Yanolja Cloud. The event continued with presentations on the development of the Global Tourism City Attractiveness Index and the 2025 evaluation results of the Global Tourism City . The overall event was moderated by Hyowon Yoon, Senior Researcher at Yanolja Research.

Presentation Session

Keynote 1 | Development of the Global Tourism City Attractiveness Index

Presenter: Dr. SooCheong Jang (Director, Yanolja Research / Professor, Purdue University)
→ Introduced the structure and development process of the Tourism City Attractiveness Index, which reflects tourists’ real experiences by analyzing international social media data.

Keynote 2 | Results of the 2025 Global Tourism City Attractiveness Evaluation

Presenter: Dr. Kyuwan Choi (Professor, Kyung Hee University / Director, H&T Analytics Center)
→ Shared the overall rankings of 200 tourism cities worldwide and the Global Tourism Attractiveness Index, which allows observation of trends in the rise and fall of their tourism attractiveness.

Panel Discussion

Following the presentations, a panel discussion was held under the moderation of Jang Suchung, Director of Yanolja Research. A diverse group of experts participated in the discussion, exploring the definition of tourism attractiveness, the practical application of the index results, and strategies to enhance the attractiveness of Korean cities.

Panelists:

Prof. Jaemoon Byun (Sejong University, College of Hotel & Tourism Management)

Prof. Sanghee Park (Kyung Hee University, College of Art and Design)

Ms. Wonhee Lee (Director, Tourism Research Division, Korea Culture & Tourism Institute)

Ms. Junghwa Ban (Senior Research Fellow, Seoul Institute)

Mr. Jungho Shin (Vice President, Nol Universe)