Cold Weather? Cheongwadae Visits Drop to Around 100,000 per Month This Year

4만8335 Visitors from Feb 1-15 This Year
About 570,000 Visitors in May Last Year... Continuous Decline
Civilians Say "Not Enough Attractions to Revisit"

Around 4 p.m. on the 20th, the Blue House was visited. Even considering it was a Monday, the Blue House, a tourist spot, was quiet. Since its first opening in May last year, the scenes of people selling ice cream and balloons in the square in front of the Blue House and children watching them were nowhere to be seen. The signboard indicating the direction to the Blue House main gate had been knocked down by strong winds. An elderly woman could not find the signboard and tried to ask for directions to the Blue House, but there was no one to ask. At 5 p.m., as the Blue House's closing time approached, about 20 elderly people wearing winter hats finished their tour and left. Jeong In-seok (74) said angrily, "I will never come again," adding, "There is nowhere to go inside, and only gardens that can be seen anywhere are on display, so there is no reason to come just because the weather is getting better."

On the 20th, I visited Cheongwadae. About 20 visitors were walking near Cheongwadae. The signboard indicating the main gate of Cheongwadae had fallen over due to the wind.
Photo by Gong Byung-sun mydillon@

According to the Cultural Heritage Administration on the 21st, the number of tourists who visited the Blue House from February 1 to 15 this year remained at around 48,335. At the halfway point of February, the number did not even reach 50,000, and it is expected that the total number of visitors will fall below 100,000 for the first time.

The number of visitors to the Blue House is gradually decreasing. After its first opening on May 10 last year, 574,380 people visited the Blue House over 22 days. The crowds were so large that it was difficult to make reservations for weekdays the following month. However, in the summer of last year, the number dropped to 226,604 in August. There was a brief rebound to 430,000 in October last year, but it decreased to 105,292 in January this year. This is about one-fifth of the number in May last year. Compared to the nearby Gyeongbokgung Palace, the decline in the Blue House's popularity is even more evident. In 2019, before COVID-19, the month with the highest number of visitors to Gyeongbokgung was September, with 1,338,722 visitors. The coldest month, January, had the fewest visitors at 446,974, about one-third of the September figure.

The figures are significantly below initial projections. The Korea Economic Research Institute under the Federation of Korean Industries predicted before the Blue House opening last year, in a report analyzing the economic effects of relocating the presidential office to the Yongsan Ministry of National Defense building, that the number of domestic and international tourists attracted by the Blue House opening would reach 16.7 million. They anticipated strong tourism demand extending from Gyeongbokgung Palace to the Blue House and the hiking trails of Bugaksan Mountain. Furthermore, they expected that the full opening of the Blue House would generate tourism revenue of 1.8 trillion won and a gross domestic product (GDP) effect of up to 3.3 trillion won.

Blue House as an Unattractive Tourist Spot... 'Killer Content' Needed

The plaza in front of the Blue House visited around 4 p.m. on the 20th. Unlike May of last year, it was quiet with no people.
Photo by Gong Byung-sun mydillon@

Citizens pointed out that the Blue House lacks significant appeal as a tourist destination. Jeon (30), an office worker who toured the Blue House last September, said, "There is nothing to see except that a former president lived here, and it is no different from a park we know," adding, "It is also inconvenient that people under 65 cannot apply for same-day on-site admission."

A man in his 40s who runs a cafe near the Blue House said, "The Blue House is located deep within the terrain, and even if you go inside, there is nothing to see, so young people do not visit," adding, "It is safe to say that no one stays to eat or drink tea late into the evening after touring." He also said, "Since there is nothing to see, I don't know if people will revisit," and added, "I don't think many people will come as before just because the weather gets warmer in spring and summer."

Ultimately, there is a call for 'killer content' that can attract people. This year, the Cultural Heritage Administration plans to invest 23.512 billion won related to the Blue House opening, but if they fail to create content that draws people's interest, the budget may be wasted. Lee Hyun-gun, head of the Lee Hyun-gun Geography Research Institute, said, "The Blue House as a historic site has not yet had clear advantages to encourage revisits," adding, "Developing various content to induce people to revisit is necessary to attract people again."