10 Tourist Attractions in Gangwon-do Named in the 'Top 100 Korean Tourist Destinations'

First Selection of Donghae's 'Dojjaebigol Sky Valley & Haerang Observatory' and 'Mureung Valley'
'Gangwon Workation' and 'Untan Godo' Tourist Sites, Gangwon-do's Representative Tourism Projects

Dojjaebigol Sky Valley [Donghae-si]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ra Young-cheol] Ten locations in Gangwon Province have been listed in the '2023-2024 Korea Tourism 100 Selections.'

Gangwon Province announced on the 14th that "Among the 600 domestic tourist destinations in the 'Korea Tourism 100 Selections,' 77 tourist sites within Gangwon Province have been selected."

In particular, Nami Island in Chuncheon has been selected in every edition of the Korea Tourism 100 Selections since 2012, emerging as a representative tourist destination of Gangwon Province.

Three tourist destinations were selected for the first time in this edition of the 'Korea Tourism 100 Selections,' including Donghae City's 'Dojjaebigol Sky Valley & Haerang Observatory' and 'Mureung Valley.'

The 'Korea Tourism 100 Selections' are chosen from a preliminary pool of 250 candidates, which includes the top 50 from the 2021-2022 Korea Tourism 100 Selections, 170 recommended by metropolitan local governments, and 30 selected through big data analysis. The final selection is made by an expert committee through qualitative, quantitative, and on-site evaluations.

Shim Won-seop, Director of Gangwon Province Tourism Policy Division, said, "We will strive to discover various attractive tourist destinations to diversify tourism purposes and to develop unique killer contents exclusive to Gangwon Province."

Meanwhile, the 'Gangwon Workation Project' is a flagship project of the Gangwon Tourism Foundation aimed at revitalizing the domestic tourism market, which has been stagnant due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation.

By attracting telecommuters and remote workers as participants in the 'Gangwon Workation,' the project has received great responses by promoting weekday tourism and increasing the average length of stay.

The 'Gangwon Workation' also won the Gold Award in the Global Marketing category at the 'Asia Pacific Tourism Association (PATA) Gold Awards 2022,' held locally in Macau this October.

Additionally, Gangwon Province's famous mountains are emerging as popular spots even among the younger generation.

In the five border counties of Gangwon Province (Cheorwon, Hwacheon, Yanggu, Inje, Goseong) and the four mining-closed cities/counties (Yeongwol, Jeongseon, Taebaek, Samcheok), 24,171 visitors came to lesser-known mountains, marking an increase of over 10% compared to the previous year.

'Untan Godo' is a trekking course created to traverse the Baekdudaegan mountain range while following the path once used to transport coal.

In particular, representative tourist sites in the four mining-closed cities/counties such as Yeongwol's Cheongnyeongpo, Jeongseon's Manhangjae, Taebaek's Hwangji Pond, and Samcheok's Miin Waterfall, along with forest trails, are considered regional attractions.