Only High School Division Matches Held at Gumi National Sports Festival... Lee Cheol-woo "Participants Must Use Single Rooms in Accommodation"

On the 24th, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters video meeting proposed 'minimizing damage' due to the reduction in participant scale

Governor Lee Cheol-woo attending the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters video conference on the 24th, presenting measures to minimize damage during the National Sports Festival.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Dong-guk] Gyeongbuk Province announced on the 26th that Governor Lee Cheol-woo proposed a solution to Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum during a video conference of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the 24th to minimize the damage caused by the reduction in the scale of participants in the 102nd National Sports Festival.

The governor suggested to Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum that each city and province's participants use single rooms in lodging facilities to resolve the issue of accommodation reservation cancellations and for COVID-19 prevention.

This year's National Sports Festival was decided by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the 17th to be held solely for the high school division, reducing the number of participants from 26,000 to 10,000, a decrease of about 60%. Accordingly, more than half of the 12,155 reserved rooms have been canceled, raising concerns that the lodging industry will suffer significant damage.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum instructed a prompt decision by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, and Governor Kim Young-rok of Jeonnam Province and Mayor Oh Se-hoon of Seoul responded that they would actively consider single-room accommodations for each athlete, as there is budget available due to the reduction in the scale of the event.

Gyeongbuk Province invested 93.1 billion KRW in facility costs since 2018 to renovate and repair 40 stadiums including Gumi Citizens' Stadium and constructed the Gumi City Complex Sports Center for the event. Over the past two years, 39.3 billion KRW in operating expenses have also been contracted and executed without delay according to relevant laws to maximize the regional economic ripple effect.

Gyeongbuk Province has sent cooperation letters to the governors of 16 cities and provinces requesting single-room accommodations for participating athletes, and has notified the 13 cities and counties hosting the event to promptly grasp the status of lodging reservations and cancellations and to prepare countermeasures.

Governor Lee Cheol-woo stated, “We will concentrate all our administrative capabilities to prepare for the event to minimize the damage to local small business owners caused by prolonged social distancing, the reduction in the scale of the National Sports Festival, and matches held without spectators.”

This year's National Sports Festival will be held in a distributed manner centered around Gumi City from October 8 to 14. The general and university divisions of the competition were canceled to prevent the spread of COVID-19.