Hapcheon-gun Vigorously Promotes Development as a 'Hy(休)' Healing Tourism City

Strengthening the Tourism Roadmap
to Become a Leading Resort Tourism City

Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongnam Province, is strengthening its tourism roadmap to become a leading domestic resort tourism city that combines healing, experience, and education, attracting 5 million tourists.

According to estimates by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Hapcheon is expected to attract about 2.3 million visitors by the end of 2024 as a famous domestic tourist destination. Based on this, the county is focusing administrative efforts on creating a special tourist site that adds value.

The county aims to develop the meteorite impact crater, a unique and unparalleled tourism resource in Korea, into a world-class meteorite-themed tourist destination and geological theme park, aspiring to become a city representing space science. To this end, a hub center will be completed within the year as a pilot project to meet the initial tourism demand visiting the Hapcheon meteorite impact crater, and the county is also accelerating preparations for national geopark certification by establishing a basic plan.

Additionally, Hapcheonho (Hoeyang) tourist site was selected for the 2025 Old Tourist Site Regeneration Contest Project, and with a project budget of 2 billion KRW, plans are underway to revitalize the tourist site through renovation of aging facilities, creation of nighttime landscapes, installation of sculptures, and hosting resident-participatory festivals.

Nightscape lighting photo of the video theme park.

Furthermore, Hapcheon Film Theme Park and Hwangmaesan County Park were selected as open tourist sites in 2025, with a total project budget of 1 billion KRW. Projects will be implemented to create barrier-free routes to alleviate mobility inconveniences for vulnerable tourist groups, develop experiential open tourism content, and provide barrier-free tourism information. The county plans to continue participating in barrier-free tourism connectivity enhancement contests to create an environment where everyone can travel safely and conveniently.

Since being selected for the 2019 planned contest-type regional tourism resource development project (Remember Film Theme Park Construction Project), the county has been pushing forward the project with a budget of 20 billion KRW over seven years and is nearing completion.

The main projects include ▲main set remodeling ▲film and video specialized promotion and marketing ▲development of experiential events ▲establishment of a linked DMO (Destination Management Organization) ▲tourism goods and food commercialization ▲reproduction of period streets. By promoting both hardware and software aspects, the open set facilities are being transformed from simple sightseeing spots into experiential spaces. Environmental sculptures, props, and large tools that evoke the atmosphere of the era are being installed, and the interior of the set facilities is being refurbished to create photo spots, theme each open set space, and build sound environments matching the themes, marking a turning point that upgrades the value of the site as a tourist attraction.

The Hapcheonho tourism zone, located at the core area centered on Hwangmaesan and Hapcheon Film Theme Park, attracts 1 million tourists annually and is emerging as a strategic hub advantageous for creating new tourism demand. Based on this geographical advantage and natural scenery, the county plans to invest 26.9 billion KRW over four years starting in 2025 in the Southern Region Wide-area Tourism Development Project called the ‘Hapcheon-gun Water Tourism Platform Construction Project.’

Main projects include ▲water tourism resort (accommodation and convenience facilities) ▲outdoor water play area ▲surfing park (indoor surfing space, cafeteria, indoor water playground, etc.) ▲mobility station (introduction and operation of amphibious buses). In the future, through water leisure sports experiences and development of unique new tourism content linked to this project, Hapcheon dreams of becoming a tourist destination where visitors want to stay longer.

This year, the county plans to actively operate the Hapcheon Promotion Center to promote various festivals and representative tourist attractions. In addition, to ensure an exciting Hapcheon travel experience, various programs will be implemented, including ▲Metropolitan City Tour Hapcheon Nubigo ▲incentive support project for attracting group tourists ▲tourism activation projects linked with other cities and provinces ▲Hapcheon one-month stay Darago Stay ▲Hapcheon travel Pink Market operation.

County Governor Kim Yoon-cheol said, “It is time to further strengthen the image of Hapcheon as a ‘tourism city’ where rest and healing are both possible,” adding, “If attracting stay-type tourists through the development of nighttime tourist attractions is activated, it will ultimately be linked to an increase in the resident population, making tourism revitalization a key solution to population decline.”