Hapcheon Haeinsa Temple Welcomes Overseas Cruise Tourists Again Following Last Year

Over 100 Foreign Tourists from New Zealand and Others Arrive via Masanhang Port

Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongnam announced on the 8th that the Heritage Adventurer cruise operated by New Zealand Heritage Expeditions arrived at Masan Port on the 4th, bringing about 100 foreign tourists from New Zealand and other countries to visit Hapcheon Haeinsa Temple and the Tripitaka Koreana Theme Park.

Haeinsa Temple in Hapcheon, visited by overseas cruise tourists. Photo by [Photographer's Name].

The overseas cruise tourists, who numbered 35 last year and visited Hapcheon Haeinsa Temple for the first time in four years since COVID-19, visited again this year with the purpose of understanding Korean Buddhism through the Tripitaka Koreana, which is registered as a UNESCO Memory of the World.

The tourists first visited the Tripitaka Koreana Theme Park, where they toured the entire process from the creation of the scriptures to their registration as a UNESCO Memory of the World in 2007. They then moved to Haeinsa Temple to experience Korean temple culture and personally viewed the Janggyeong Panjeon and the Tripitaka Koreana before returning to Masan Port.

The county took the opportunity to promote the excellence of Korean culture by providing detailed explanations about the world heritage sites preserved at the Tripitaka Koreana Theme Park and Haeinsa Temple through cultural tourism interpreters.

Yoo Seong-gyeong, Director of Tourism Promotion Division, said, “We warmly welcome the cruise officials and tourists who visited us again, and this will have been an opportunity to widely promote the excellence of our cultural heritage to foreigners.” He added, “We will continue to actively strive to attract more overseas tourists to visit Hapcheon.”