Goryeong Daegaya Festival Selected as a 'Cultural Tourism Festival' and Recognized as a Representative Festival of Korea

The ‘Daegaya Festival,’ the representative festival of Goryeong-gun, Gyeongbuk, has been selected as a Cultural Tourism Festival for 2024-2025.

The Cultural Tourism Festival is a program by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism that has been selecting and supporting excellent festivals recognized for their cultural value and tourism appeal among over 1,200 local festivals nationwide since 1996.

Starting next year, a new ‘Global Festival Support Project’ will be launched to provide transportation connecting local airports and festival sites, as well as foreign language guidance systems, to attract more foreign tourists.

The scene of the Goryeong Daegaya Festival held this year.

This selection as an excellent festival was based on a comprehensive evaluation including expert written and on-site assessments, tourist awareness and satisfaction, and local residents’ support and response.

The written and on-site evaluations assessed the uniqueness of the content, the operational capabilities of the festival organization, contributions to the local community, and safety management systems.

Marking its 18th year this year, the Daegaya Festival drew the largest number of tourists ever, demonstrating its status as a leading festival in Korea with great public response.

In September, the ‘Jisandong Tumuli’ was inscribed as a World Heritage Site at the 45th UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, giving momentum to the leap toward becoming a global tourist city.

Kim Yong-hyun, chairman of the Tourism Council, said, “The Daegaya Festival has now become a turning point to leap beyond a local festival into a tourism festival,” adding, “Realistic changes such as building core infrastructure by region are necessary to realize a full-fledged tourist city.”