Seoul City Hall / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
As Korea rides a historic wave of international tourism — projected to draw an unprecedented 19 million foreign visitors this year — municipal officials are turning to the digital economy to solve a persistent domestic challenge: bringing women back into the workforce.
The Seoul Foundation of Women and Family announced a joint public-private initiative with the city’s Women’s Resources Development Center and Airbnb to launch the third year of its specialized Shared Accommodation Host Training Program. The project specifically targets "career-interrupted" women — stay-at-home mothers and professionals who left the workforce to care for family — leveraging home-sharing platforms as a flexible runway back to financial independence.
In a local culture where rigid, arduous corporate environments often force women out of the job market after childbirth, digital hospitality offers an appealing alternative, as running a boutique guesthouse allows women to manage an enterprise on their own schedules.
The program has seen explosive demand since its inception. A modest pilot project in 2024 drew 130 eager applicants for just 36 spots. By 2025, enrollment surged to 471 participants, with several graduates successfully launching independent platforms and welcoming international guests into their homes.
To build on that momentum, the 2026 curriculum splits the program into introductory and masterclass tiers. A foundational online course starting June 4 will cover market analysis, legal registration hurdles and macro trends in regional tourism. A selective advanced track will follow, deep-diving into platform algorithms, dynamic pricing and cross-cultural customer service.
For tech heavyweights like Airbnb, the alliance offers a structured mechanism to expand high-quality, authentic lodging inventory in a city desperately short on hotel rooms. For Seoul, it creates an incubator for tech entrepreneurship among women.
"Home sharing has emerged as a viable microbusiness model that aligns beautifully with flexible working arrangements," said Park Jung-sook, CEO of the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family. "We intend to keep forging these public-private ecosystems to unlock fresh economic pathways for women."
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
Source: Korea Times News
