Gwangyang City Visits Europe for Sister City Exchange

Expecting Achievements in Tourism, Economy, Culture, and Education through Czech and Austria Cooperation

Gwangyang City in Jeollanam-do announced that a tourism inspection team and an international exchange delegation in the fields of economy, culture, and education, led by Mayor Jeong In-hwa, will visit the Dolni Morava region in the Czech Republic and the sister city Linz in Austria from the 4th for a 7-night, 9-day schedule.

This visit was arranged to benchmark similar tourism facilities in the Czech Republic for the development of the Gubongsan tourism complex and to establish a practical exchange base and strengthen cooperation in the fields of economy, culture, and education through the official visit to Linz, Austria’s sister city.

The Czech visit team consists of a total of 11 members, including Gwangyang Mayor Jeong In-hwa, Gwangyang City Council Chairman Seo Young-bae, three company officials related to the development of tourism facilities in the Gubongsan area (2 from POSCO, 1 from LF Resort), and Gwangyang city officials, for a 2-night, 3-day schedule from the 4th to the 6th.

They will tour the Dolni Morava Mountain Resort, a comprehensive tourism facility where attractions such as the world’s longest suspension bridge (Sky Bridge 721), skywalk, roller coaster, and trail park (mountain bike course) are concentrated and successfully operated, and review the possibility of applying similar tourism facilities to the Gubongsan area in Gwangyang.

The Linz, Austria visit team consists of 14 members, including Gwangyang Mayor Jeong In-hwa, Gwangyang City Council Chairman Seo Young-bae, private experts and officials in the fields of economy, culture and arts, and education, as well as Gwangyang city officials, for a 5-night, 7-day schedule from the 6th to the 12th.

During the visit to Linz, they will attend the opening ceremony of the Bruckner Festival, one of the regional festivals attended by the Austrian president, upon the official invitation of Klaus Luger, Mayor of Linz, who visited Gwangyang last year.

Additionally, the schedule includes ▲a hydrogen economy cooperation meeting and inspection of major hydrogen industry facilities ▲an exhibition of youth art works from Gwangyang under the theme “Beautiful International Sister Cities: Gwangyang, Republic of Korea - Linz, Austria” ▲signing of MOUs for cooperation in culture, arts, and education (three agreements including cooperation for promoting cultural cities, media art exchanges between artists of both cities, and establishing an exchange platform for art schools in both cities) ▲visits to representative facilities in Linz such as the world-renowned Ars Electronica Center and the Voest Alpine steelworks.

Linz, through which the Donau (Danube) River flows, is the third-largest city in Austria (population about 200,000) after Wien (Vienna) and Graz. Linz has successfully transformed from a heavily polluted steel city into a European Capital of Culture (designated in 2009), and in 2014, it was designated as a UNESCO Creative City in the field of media art. It is also globally renowned for the Bruckner Festival and Ars Electronica Festival held every September.

Meanwhile, Gwangyang City and Linz established their international sister city relationship in 1991 and celebrated the 30th anniversary with exchange week events in 2021.

With the visit of Mayor Jeong In-hwa and his delegation, it is expected that a new horizon will open for practical exchanges in economy, culture, arts, and education, as well as cooperation in the process of promoting cultural cities between the two cities.