Naver is moving to secure a lead in the inbound tourism platform market by addressing what foreign tourists have cited as their biggest inconvenience: the lack of a domestic phone number.

Naver said on June 9 it has introduced a "passport verification" service since June 4 for foreign users holding passports issued overseas.

Under the measure, short-term visitors can complete identity verification using only a smartphone, without a separate Korean mobile phone number. Users who complete verification can use O2O services at the same level as locals, including place reservations via Naver Map, restaurant orders and easy payments.

Foreign tourists have faced major difficulties booking local restaurants or using delivery services because of identity-verification barriers, despite South Korea's advanced IT infrastructure. Naver aims to address this "digital exclusion" and actively draw global users onto its platform.

Along with improving online convenience, it is also building out offline payment infrastructure. Naver Pay previously worked with the Korea Tourism Organization last year to expand the distribution of its integrated payment terminal, "Npay Connect", at major tourist facilities, popular local restaurants and airports frequented by foreigners. It removed restrictions across payment methods such as cash, cards, QR and NFC. It also reduced information asymmetry by providing translations of place reviews left by domestic users into English, Chinese and Japanese.

Yoon-jae Na (나윤재), Naver's leader for Digital ID and verification, said, "Naver has set up a passport verification service so that more foreign tourists can have a satisfying experience when traveling in Korea." He added, "We will work to help more global users use Naver safely and conveniently by expanding applicable services in stages and strengthening language support."