On June 25, 2025, the Yanolja Research Special Session was held at the Banwolseong Conference Room of the Commodore Hotel Gyeongju, as part of the 98th International Conference of the Tourism Sciences Society of Korea.

The session began with an opening address by Dr. Wonseok Seo, President of the Tourism Sciences Society of Korea and Professor at Kyung Hee University's College of Hotel & Tourism Management. This was followed by an introduction to Yanolja Research by Dr. Soo Chung Jang, Director of Yanolja Research and Professor at Purdue University. The event featured a total of four themed presentations, with Hyowon Yoon, Senior Researcher at Yanolja Research, serving as the moderator.
 

Presentation Session

Keynote 1 | The Necessity of Korea’s Transition into a Leading Tourism Nation

Presenter: Dr. KyooWan Choi (Professor, Kyung Hee University / Chair, Future Tourism Strategy Committee)
→ Explained the need to foster the tourism industry in response to major societal challenges in Korea such as economic growth limitations, demographic shifts, and oversaturation of self-employment.

Keynote 2 | The Path to a Global Tourism Power – UNLOCK KOREA

Presenter: Dr. Soo Chung Jang (Director, Yanolja Research / Professor, Purdue University)
→ Emphasized the importance of redefining the scope of the tourism industry and establishing KPIs based on digital innovation to boost inbound tourism.

Keynote 3 | The Necessity of Korea’s Transition into a Leading Tourism Nation

Presenter:  Seokwon Hong (Principal Researcher) / Daechul Seo (Senior Researcher), Yanolja Research
→ Introduced a forecasting model framework using LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) architecture to predict inbound tourism demand for the year 2025.

Keynote 4 | Paradigm Shift and Strategic Execution for Local Tourism Revitalization

Presenter:  GwanYoung Lee (Associate Research Fellow) / Hyowon Yoon (Senior Researcher) / Yejin An (Senior Researcher), Yanolja Research
→ Proposed four key paradigms to guide the future direction of local tourism in response to evolving environmental and trend-related changes.