Uiryeong-gun to Welcome 8 Million Visitors in the Year of Uiryeong Tourism

Rich Rich Festival Success Establishes Itself as a Tourist City

Poster for the Year of Uiryeong Visit. [Provided by Uiryeong County Office]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Wook] Last year, Uiryeong-gun, Gyeongnam, which held the nation’s first event under the slogan ‘Receive the Wealth Energy,’ has declared this year and next year as the Years of Visiting Uiryeong and has taken the first step to welcome 8 million visitors.

Uiryeong-gun is promoting the ‘Year of Visiting Uiryeong’ to introduce Uiryeong-gun, located at the center of Gyeongnam with its rich history, culture, and natural environment, to the entire country this year and next year.

During the ‘Year of Visiting Uiryeong,’ Uiryeong-gun has set a concrete goal of attracting more than 8 million visitors.

Uiryeong-gun is a city where history, tradition, and nature breathe, featuring Chungiksa Shrine, a symbol of the spirit of the righteous militia, the birthplace of independence activist Ahn Hee-je and Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul, and natural resources such as Hanwoo Mountain and Jagul Mountain.

In particular, with ‘Sotbawi’ (Cauldron Rock), which is said to bring wealth energy and grant wishes, as the backdrop, the successful hosting of last year’s first Uiryeong Wealth Festival, the Rich Rich Festival, shows great potential for Uiryeong to leap forward as a tourist city.

Uiryeong is also an excellent ‘gourmet travel destination.’ It is more than enough reason to visit Uiryeong-gun to experience the happiness of delicious food overflowing with charm. Uiryeong Buckwheat Noodles, made with anchovy broth and buckwheat noodles topped with beef jangjorim (soy-braised beef), and Manggae Tteok, made by wrapping leaves picked from the Cheongmirae vine, have gained nationwide fame, and dishes like beef soup with rich broth cooked in an iron cauldron with Hanwoo beef can only be properly tasted in Uiryeong.

While promoting this Year of Visiting Uiryeong, the county aims not only to re-advance as a tourist city but also to showcase new possibilities as an experiential education city.

The confidence behind this ambition is the scheduled opening of the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education Future Education Center in July. The Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education Future Education Center, the nation’s first future education institution, will be built on a 48,496㎡ site in Seodong-ri, Uiryeong-eup, with a total project cost of 49.9 billion KRW, serving as a ‘future education, future school, and future classroom experiential exhibition cultural space.’

The Future Education Center, which will function as a symbolic role for future education in Gyeongnam, is an educational facility designed to help students plan for the future and cultivate creative and convergent thinking. It is expected that 200,000 students, parents, and teachers will visit Uiryeong-gun in 2023, and 440,000 in 2024.

The county is steadily progressing with program consulting for experiential sites in Uiryeong-gun that can attract visitors from nearby cities and establishing manuals for food-related projects, aiming to make Uiryeong a representative experiential and educational city in Korea.

Uiryeong-gun is planning special programs to celebrate the 2023?2024 Year of Visiting Uiryeong.

In August, during midsummer, the ‘Uiryeong Night Walking’ event will be held, combining night walking and concerts. Uiryeong Night Walking is a new summer festival in Uiryeong where visitors can enjoy the colorful night lighting and walk through night attractions while experiencing the night view of Uiryeong and unique experiences.

In September, the ‘Fragrance Concert’ will be held in Hapgang Area’s Forest of Patriotic Righteous Militia, a new autumn flower attraction in Uiryeong.

County Governor Oh Tae-wan said, “Uiryeong-gun, the ‘geographical center’ of Gyeongnam, dreams of becoming the ‘center of tourism’ starting with the Year of Visiting Uiryeong,” adding, “We invite all citizens to the endless journey of Uiryeong’s pauses and exclamation points without a full stop.”