Increased Sales for Local Businesses
Including Hotels, Restaurants, and Shops
More than an estimated 100,000 people visited the Gyeongnam Citizen Sports Festival and the Jinju Nongae Festival, both held in Jinju, Gyeongnam in 2025, bringing the events to a successful close and significantly revitalizing the local economy.
According to Jinju City on May 13, approximately 32,000 people attended the 64th Gyeongsangnam-do Citizen Sports Festival, which took place from May 2 to 5. This figure includes about 12,000 athletes and staff, as well as around 20,000 family members, acquaintances, and spectators. Additionally, about 122,000 people (as measured by mobile base station data and those who stayed at the event site for more than 10 minutes) visited the 24th Jinju Nongae Festival, held from May 3 to 6.
As a result, the prevailing sentiments were that "the Citizen Sports Festival and Jinju Nongae Festival revitalized the local community," "Jinju experienced a tourism boom in May this year," and "the local commercial districts saw a rare surge in activity."
Given the success of these two events, Jinju City analyzed the extent of their economic impact on the region.
The direct consumer spending by athletes, staff, and spectators who attended the Gyeongnam Citizen Sports Festival, which returned to Jinju after seven years, was estimated at around 2.4 billion won. By applying the induced effect coefficient from the Bank of Korea’s input-output table, the overall economic impact on the local economy is estimated to be about 3.9 billion won.
Meanwhile, the Jinju Nongae Festival, which drew about 76,000 visitors last year, saw well over 100,000 visitors this year, bringing new vitality to the old downtown commercial district. Notably, according to an internal survey, new visitors accounted for approximately 61.3% of all attendees due to an increase in out-of-town tourists, and the number of visitors who stayed overnight for at least two days increased by about 10% compared to last year.
With the increase in visitors to the Jinju Nongae Festival, Jinju City estimated that the economic impact, when applying the induced effect coefficient, would be about 9 billion won.
It is highly likely that visitors to the Gyeongnam Citizen Sports Festival also visited the Jinju Fortress area, where the Jinju Nongae Festival was held. By adding the direct consumer spending and the resulting value-added effects of visitors to both events, Jinju City estimated that the total economic impact easily exceeded 10 billion won, benefiting commercial districts throughout the city, including the old downtown area.
Mayor Cho Kyu-il expressed his gratitude to all visitors to Jinju, stating, "I am very pleased as mayor that these large-scale events, held together in Jinju for the first time in a while, have contributed to the local economy."
He added, "Next year, we will maximize Jinju’s diverse historical, cultural, and tourism resources and attractions to create an even richer Jinju Nongae Festival, and we will also successfully host the Gyeongsangnam-do Sports for All Festival to promote regional unity and economic revitalization."
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