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Korea Tourism API MCP Server

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides tools for accessing the Korea Tourism API

Installation

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file.

Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "harimkang-mcp-korea-tourism-api": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "KOREA_TOURISM_API_KEY": "YOUR_KTO_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can access and query the Korea Tourism Organization API through a dedicated MCP server, enabling your AI assistant to discover festivals, attractions, restaurants, accommodations, and more across Korea with multilingual support, caching, and reliable retries.

How to use

Use an MCP-compatible client to connect to the server via either the HTTP transport or the local stdio transport. With the HTTP option you get a web-friendly endpoint suitable for apps, load balancers, or browser-based clients. With the stdio option you run the server locally and connect directly from your MCP client or integration layer for fast, low-latency responses. You can perform searches by keyword or area, fetch detailed information, locate nearby attractions, and retrieve images and operational details for specific items. The server also helps you find current and upcoming festivals and events and supports multiple languages.

Key actions you can perform include searching by keyword, filtering by content type or area, locating nearby attractions using coordinates, retrieving detailed information by content ID, and obtaining related images. You’ll also be able to check area codes and obtain festival information within a date range. Ensure your API key from the Korea Tourism Organization is available and set in your environment when running the server.

How to install

Prerequisites: you need Python 3.12 or newer and either uvx or Docker for running the MCP server. You must also obtain a KTO API key and set it in your environment.

Option A: Run via uv (recommended for local development) ensure you have Python 3.12+ and uv installed, then start the server with the stdio transport.

HTTP transport (web applications)

To expose the MCP server over HTTP, use the HTTP transport configuration. The default endpoint is http://localhost:8000/mcp. Ensure the KTO API key is provided in your environment.

STDIO transport (local development)

Run the server locally using the stdio transport with uv. This keeps the server accessible to MCP clients directly from your development machine.

Additional notes

The server supports health checks, multilingual responses, caching, rate limiting, and automatic retries to improve reliability and performance. When deploying, keep your API key secure and prefer the HTTP transport for web deployments or the stdio transport for development and direct MCP integrations.

Available tools

search_tourism_by_keyword

Search tourism information by keywords, with optional filters like content type and area code to refine results.

get_tourism_by_area

List tourism items by geographic area codes with options to filter by content type and district.

find_nearby_attractions

Find attractions near given GPS coordinates, with configurable radius and content type filters.

search_festivals_by_date

Find festivals within a specified date range and optionally filter by area code.

find_accommodations

Search for hotels, guesthouses, and other accommodations filtered by area and district.

get_detailed_information

Retrieve comprehensive details for a specific item by Content ID, including descriptions, hours, and amenities.

get_tourism_images

Obtain image URLs associated with a specific tourism item via its Content ID.

get_area_codes

Retrieve area and sub-area codes to help navigation and filtering.