Opening the Potential as an International Tourist Destination... Yeongdeok County Welcomes Japanese Wellness Tour Group

One Night, Two Days at Inmun Healing Center Yeomyeong and Yeonghae Market

County Governor Kim Kwangyeol Welcomes 28 Tour Members

The Japanese movie actress and honorary ambassador for Korean tourism, Fukumi Kuroda, along with the Japanese Traditional Medicine Wellness Tour Group, visited major tourist attractions in Yeongdeok County on the 25th and 26th.

Yeongdeok County, which welcomed a Japanese wellness tour group, opened the possibility of becoming an international tourist attraction.

During their stay in Yeongdeok, the 28 Japanese tourists, including Fukumi Kuroda and Kim Yunae, a third-generation Korean-Japanese and head of the Japan Traditional Medicine Association, participated in the wellness program at Yeongdeok Humanities Healing Center Yeomyeong, which has been designated as an excellent wellness tourist destination by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. They also visited the historic Yeonghae Traditional Market to experience local culture and specialties.

This visit was part of a traditional medicine wellness tourism package product organized through the collaboration of the Gyeongbuk Culture and Tourism Organization and the Yeongdeok Culture and Tourism Foundation. The tour group spent two days and one night in Yeongdeok as part of their four-day, three-night itinerary.

On the first day of the tour group's visit, County Governor Kim Kwangyeol welcomed them at Yeonghae Traditional Market, personally handing each tourist a rose and a souvenir as a gesture of hospitality. The tour group showed particular interest in high-quality local specialties such as wild seaweed produced in the region, purchasing a significant amount.

County Governor Kim Kwangyeol stated, "It is very encouraging that a two-day, one-night stay tourism program has been realized in a rural area that is difficult for foreign tourists to access due to lack of information or accessibility, and that this has provided an opportunity for the region's attractions and specialties to gain international recognition. We will work to resolve the barriers that make it difficult for foreign tourists to visit, and promote the unique characteristics and advantages of our region so that visits from foreign group tourists are not just a one-time event but continue steadily, contributing to the development of the tourism industry and revitalization of the local economy."

On the 25th, at Humanities Healing Center Yeomyeong, the Yeongdeok Culture and Tourism Foundation and the Japan Traditional Medicine Association signed a memorandum of understanding for mutual exchange and cooperation to jointly develop traditional medicine wellness tourism content and advance the wellness industry.

The main points of the agreement include: ▲cooperation on the development and activation of content across the wellness industry, including traditional medicine wellness tourism, medical tourism, and experiential programs; ▲mutual cooperation for the success of the 'Yeongdeok International H Wellness Festa' and the 'Yeongdeok International Wellness Industry Expo'; and ▲operation of a consultative body for mutual cooperation between the two organizations.