A Tourist Spot Where ‘Daengnyangi’ Cats Can Run Freely Opens in Miryang and Hapcheon

Gyeongnam Province Creates Nation's First Pet-Friendly Space

This year's plan for creating pet-friendly Gyeongnam-style tourist attractions in Miryang-si, Gyeongnam.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] A tourist space where pets can also enjoy will be created in Miryang City and Hapcheon County, Gyeongnam Province.

Gyeongsangnam-do is creating a tourist space that embraces both pet owners and non-pet owners for the first time nationwide.

As part of the Gyeongnam-type tourism inclusion policy, two sites in Miryang City and Hapcheon County were selected as the 2022 pet-friendly Gyeongnam-type tourist destinations, with a project budget of 1 billion KRW invested.

Local governments across the country are competing to introduce policies related to pets and are designating the pet industry as a future regional industry to revitalize the local economy.

According to Statistics Korea, last year there were 3.13 million pet-owning households nationwide, accounting for 15% of the total 21.48 million households.

In the Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) region, including 120,000 households in Gyeongnam, there are 330,000 pet-owning households, accounting for 11% of the national total, which is a considerable scale compared to 440,000 households in Seoul.

This year, Gyeongnam Province is promoting a 2022 pet-friendly Gyeongnam-type tourist destination contest proposed in the resident participation budget, aiming to revitalize Gyeongnam tourism by creating tourist sites that embrace pets.

Most pet-friendly policies of local governments nationwide focus on preventing conflicts with non-pet owners in advance by installing pet-exclusive facilities such as theme parks or funeral halls.

Gyeongsangnam-do proceeded with the project by renovating existing tourist attractions with a small budget to include pets and announced that Miryang City and Hapcheon County were finally selected on the 30th.

The contest emphasized stay-type tourism considering food and accommodation along with existing tourist attractions, and the method of providing tourist spaces, accommodation, and food to tourists will be finally reflected in the project plan.

Miryang City and Hapcheon County have established separate budgets for management and operation of the project sites and set mid- to long-term plans to secure the pet population.

Miryang City will carry out a project linked to the pet support center within the rural tourism and recreation complex being promoted in Danjang-myeon area.

A 2.2 km walking trail will be created within the complex, and agility spaces, shade shelters, and drinking fountains will be installed.

A city official said, “We applied for the contest to create a friendly space where pet owners and non-pet owners can mingle together in green spaces and parks.”

Hapcheon County plans to create a dog playground and convenience facilities in idle facilities within the Daejanggyeong Theme Park and organize guidance systems so visitors can use existing Daejanggyeong-related exhibition facilities.

A county official said, “The Daejanggyeong Theme Park facilities have a limited theme and attract few stay-type tourists. We applied for the contest to develop unique themed tourism resources and revitalize the tourist site.”

Gyeongnam Province is expanding this project from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s open tourist site project, which improves facilities for existing tourism vulnerable groups such as foreigners and visually/hearing impaired people, to include pets as tourism vulnerable groups, calling it ‘Open Tourist Site v2.0.’

An official from the province said, “Inclusive policies can be seen even in residential areas, such as installing dog and cat-only playgrounds in new apartment complexes. We will create tourist spaces where pet owners and non-pet owners consider each other in public spaces such as tourist sites and parks.”

Park Seongjae, Director of the Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau, said, “If the excellence of the projects promoted as tourism inclusion policies is proven, we plan to expand the target sites. We will do our best to establish plans and promote projects with Miryang City and Hapcheon County to prevent conflicts between pet owners and non-pet owners.”