Gwangyang City Holds Performance Report Meeting for Gwangyang Maehwa Festival

- Attracting One Million Tourists and Increasing Downtown Visitors

Over 70 Billion Won in Direct and Indirect Economic Impact

Parking Shortages and Traffic Congestion Remain Challenges

On the 9th, Gwangyang City in Jeollanam-do held the "23rd Gwangyang Maehwa Festival Performance Sharing and Improvement Plan Report Meeting" at the city hall situation room, attended by Mayor Jeong In-hwa and related officials.

This meeting was held to share the achievements of the 23rd Gwangyang Maehwa Festival and discuss improvement plans. The festival's outcomes were reported, various civil complaints, suggestions, and improvements were shared, and solutions were jointly considered to explore future development directions.

[Photo by Gwangyang City]

The 23rd Gwangyang Maehwa Festival attracted nationwide attention with innovative changes such as paid admission and car-free streets, as well as differentiated festival content, achieving five major festival strategies: a safe festival, an eco-friendly festival without disposable products, a festival without overcharging, a festival satisfying tourists, and a festival beneficial to the local economy.

Unique contents only available at the Gwangyang Maehwa Festival, such as "Maehwarang 1 Night 2 Days," Seomjingang Boat Experience, Seomjingang Barefoot Walking, and the Amateur Barefoot Competition on Ice, helped transform the festival from a pass-through event to a stay-type festival.

In particular, during the blooming period, over one million tourists visited the Gwangyang Maehwa Village, and tourists flowed not only to shops in Daap-myeon but also to downtown areas such as Mangdeok Port and the Gwangyang Bulgogi Specialty Street, generating an estimated direct and indirect economic ripple effect of approximately 70 billion KRW*.

However, despite various improvement strategies such as significantly expanding the riverside parking lot and extending shuttle bus routes under the special comprehensive traffic measures for the Gwangyang Maehwa Festival, parking difficulties and traffic congestion remain unresolved challenges due to the venue's geographical characteristics.

The city plans to supplement and improve the raised issues such as the ticket operation method and parking shortages, and aims to leap forward as Korea's representative cultural tourism festival with more differentiated content and a mature tourism acceptance attitude.

Mayor Jeong In-hwa of Gwangyang said, "The 23rd Gwangyang Maehwa Festival led success by attracting nationwide attention through bold attempts and a change of mindset, but there are clearly points that need improvement. Let all staff demonstrate collective intelligence to find solutions to the raised issues and develop the festival into a sustainable global festival with festival content that has identity and uniqueness and a sophisticated tourism acceptance attitude."