[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province is making an all-out effort to have the Southern Coast New Growth Tourism Belt project, a key policy of the 7th local government, and the Jeonnam regional wide-area tourism development project linking marine and inland tourism reflected in the national plan.
According to the province on the 11th, Kim Byung-joo, Director of the Tourism, Culture and Sports Bureau, and related officials visited the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee and the offices of Jeonnam area lawmakers one after another on the same day.
They requested that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism include the Jeonnam regional wide-area tourism development project, including the Southern Coast New Growth Tourism Belt, and the Mahan Historical and Cultural Zone maintenance project in the national plan.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is currently conducting a ‘Basic Plan for Southern Region Tourism Development’ study, designating three wide-area tourism zones?Southwest, South Central, and Southeast?centered on five southern cities and provinces including Jeonnam, Gwangju, Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam, and is discovering convergence hub projects for establishing regional core bases and regional linkage cooperation projects.
The study is scheduled to be completed by May, after which a detailed project plan will be established, and priorities by zone will be set for budget consultations with the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
Accordingly, the province requested at the National Assembly that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Basic Plan for Southern Region Tourism Development include 18 convergence hub projects (10 in the Southwest zone and 8 in the South Central zone), such as the creation of the Yi Sun-sin National Defense Tourism Belt within the Southern Coast New Growth Tourism Belt and the establishment of a marine wellness total healing tourism hub.
They also asked for the inclusion of 24 projects discovered by the province, worth approximately 530 billion KRW, as six linkage cooperation projects including the advancement of a wide-area tourism-linked transportation network system.
Director Kim met with the Chairman of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee Do Jong-hwan and lawmakers Kim Won-i (Mokpo), Yoon Jae-gap (Haenam, Wando, Jindo), and Seo Sam-seok (Yeongam, Muan, Sinan) to explain the necessity of reflecting the Southern Coast New Growth Tourism Belt project and other provincial projects in the Southern Region Tourism Development Project.
He emphasized that it is a large-scale tourism development project linking Yeongnam and Honam regions and actively urged an increase in the total project budget and the selection of local priority projects considering regional tourism infrastructure conditions.
Director Kim said, “The Southern Region Tourism Development Project is attracting attention as a new national land development axis in terms of balanced national development. We will have the regional projects reflected in the national plan and promote them as a wide-area tourism development project linking Yeongnam and Honam, fostering the southern coast as a new growth hub necessary to enhance global competitiveness.”
Meanwhile, Jeonnam Province held the first regular meeting of the public-industry-academia-government cooperation system in 2021 on the 10th to establish a tourism collaboration system.
The regular meeting functions as a communication channel platform involving the tourism industry, local academia, and research institutions, and is held regularly on the second Wednesday of every month. It aims to strengthen cooperation among the public, industry, academia, and government, share tourism trends and policies, and seek ways to revitalize local tourism.
At the first meeting, various opinions were presented regarding the development of specialized programs related to the Year of Visiting Jeonnam, highlighting a clean Jeonnam image and creating a welcoming environment for tourists in response to the post-COVID-19 era, and holding a vision proclamation ceremony and promotional tours to create a tourism boom.
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