Trails of Transformation: Balancing Sustainability, Security, and Culture in DMZ Walking Tourism

This study examines rural walking tourism as a sustainable strategy for revitalizing regional economies and preserving natural environments, focusing on the DMZ Punch Bowl in South Korea. Although rural walking tourism has been widely promoted for sustainability, little is known about its operation in geopolitically sensitive and militarized ecological zones, such as the Korean DMZ. Adopting the qualitative case study method, we explored three essential conditions for sustainable rural walking tourism: environmental friendliness, experiential immersion and sense of place, and local economic revitalization through stakeholder cooperation. We employed a hybrid thematic analysis using inductive and deductive coding to analyze the triangulated data collected from interviews, field observations, and policy documents. In-depth interviews with ten walking tourism experts revealed that storytelling that emphasizes local history, ecological conservation, and unique cultural identity enhances tourists’ emotional attachment and sense of place immersion. The DMZ Punch Bowl case was selected due to its effective integration of these elements, achieved through a collaborative governance structure involving government agencies, military units, and local communities. The findings highlight that coordinated management and stakeholder cooperation are crucial for balancing land use policies, ecological preservation, and tourism safety. Additionally, walking tourism significantly contributes to local economic growth through direct spending, job creation, increased resident incomes, the sale of local specialties, and participation in experiential activities. This study provides valuable insights and a replicable model for sustainably developing walking tourism in similarly sensitive or ecologically significant rural areas.