Gyeonggi Province will invest 44.149 billion KRW over three years to renovate old tourist sites and develop representative tourism brands and content to revitalize tourism in northern Gyeonggi.
On the 23rd, Gyeonggi Province announced the "Northern Gyeonggi Tourism Revitalization Support Plan," aiming to utilize the potential resources of northern Gyeonggi and revitalize the stagnant tourism sector there.
Northern Gyeonggi boasts excellent natural environments and abundant potential tourist resources, but many tourist sites are old, resulting in low numbers of overnight visitors.
Accordingly, Gyeonggi Province has newly established five support projects?Art Tour Bus, Northern Metropolitan City Tour, Healing Stay Program, Night Tourism Activation, and Food Culture Tourism Activation?allocating 5.2 billion KRW over three years. Additionally, a total of 39 billion KRW will be invested over three years to renovate aging tourist sites and improve the tourism environment.
First, the "Art Tour Bus" will be pilot-operated from the second half of this year in northeastern cities and counties such as Yangju, home to the Jang Uk-jin Art Museum and Gana Art Center, as well as Dongducheon and Yeoncheon. The "Northeastern Gyeonggi Metropolitan City Tour," connecting tourist sites in Gapyeong, Namyangju, Pocheon, and Yeoncheon, will also be launched from next year.
A "Healing Stay Program," reflecting the workation trend of working while resting at resorts, will also be introduced.
Gyeonggi Province plans to collaborate with 10 cities and counties in northern Gyeonggi to explore linking accommodation infrastructure in northern Gyeonggi, which offers water sports, with major tenant companies in Pangyo Techno Valley.
In addition, support projects utilizing existing tourism resources will proceed. The night tourism activation support project plans to operate programs using "light" to encourage tourist visits and longer stays. Six locations will be selected through a public contest, with a total of 1.8 billion KRW provided for content development, operation costs, and promotion.
A food culture tourism program, where visitors can taste and experience local cuisine while traveling, will also be developed. Local gourmet spots such as 16 food-themed streets in northern Gyeonggi, including Paju Tofu Village, and nine breweries will be discovered to create food tourism maps, develop gourmet tour products, and provide expert consulting.
A Gyeonggi Province official stated, "Northern Gyeonggi is often recognized only for its excellent natural environment, but it has many hidden tourism resources. We will concentrate all our efforts on revitalizing tourism in northern Gyeonggi," adding, "We will do our best to make the tourism industry a new growth engine for northern Gyeonggi."
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