'Goseong You Want to Visit, Goseong You Want to Stay' ... Goseong Youth Hostel Groundbreaking on the 30th

Expected bird's-eye view of Goseong Youth Hostel, Gyeongnam. [Image source=Goseong-gun]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Sang-hyun] On the 30th, the groundbreaking ceremony for Goseong Youth Hostel, which will serve as the foundation of Goseong, the mecca of sports and tourism, will take place.

According to Goseong-gun, Gyeongnam, on the 29th, the youth hostel construction project, which has been promoted as a key project to revitalize sports marketing and exhibition business, will be officially launched on the 30th.

The county hosted 21 nationwide sports competitions in 2019, 46 in 2020, and 64 in 2021, winning the Excellent Local Government Award at the 2020 Korea Sports Industry Awards.

However, due to a lack of large-scale accommodation facilities in the area, athletes, officials, and families participating in the competitions have been moving to nearby cities, diminishing the economic impact on the local community despite hosting the events.

To address this, County Governor Baek Doo-hyun officially announced the construction of the youth hostel in August 2019 and pushed forward plans to make Goseong a mecca for track and field and marine sports.

The youth hostel will be built in Sinwol-ri, Goseong-eup, with a total project cost of 24 billion KRW, including 14 billion KRW from the Goseong Green Power Win-Win Cooperation Fund and 10 billion KRW from the special support project fund for areas surrounding the power plant. It will consist of four buildings connected by corridors, with 9 floors above ground and 2 basement levels, covering a total area of 7,198㎡.

The facility will include 47 rooms accommodating 234 people and a convention facility capable of hosting over 300 people simultaneously.

The design will be led by world-renowned architect and former Chairperson of the National Architecture Policy Committee, Seung Hyo-sang.

Completion is scheduled for December 2022, and once full operation begins in 2023, it is expected to greatly contribute to revitalizing the local economy by linking sports marketing and the tourism industry.

Governor Baek said, "The competitiveness of a local government can be summed up in one word: staying. We need to attract many people to Goseong, have them stay, and spend. The youth hostel will play a crucial role as a catalyst for Goseong's leap into a sports and tourism city."