Grand Prize in Tourism Design Category
Recognized for Innovation and Nationwide Expansion
of Tourism Content through Hamo
The 'Jinju Hamo Tourism Character Project,' promoted by Jinju City in South Gyeongsang Province to strengthen its tourism brand and enhance the city's image, achieved a remarkable feat by winning the Grand Prize in the Tourism Design category at the '2025 3rd Korea Tourism Policy Awards' hosted by the Korea Tourism Policy Research Association.
The 'Korea Tourism Policy Awards' is a prestigious annual award that aims to discover and recognize outstanding tourism policy cases implemented by local governments, thereby fostering the development of regional tourism policies and building a sustainable tourism ecosystem.
This year, Jinju City received high praise for effectively incorporating the city's symbols into the design of the tourism character 'Hamo' and for expanding this character into a variety of tourism content by linking it with diverse tourism policies.
The Jinju City tourism character 'Hamo' was developed in 2021 through a character contest for a public art exhibition. Since then, it has established itself as a representative symbol of Jinju City. To date, the city has strengthened the connection between local tourism resources and the character through various initiatives, including public art exhibitions, the production of character merchandise, operation of the Hamo Store, and management of social media channels.
In particular, large Hamo sculptures have been installed and operated at major locations both domestically and internationally, such as Seoul Olympic Park and the Violet Festival in France, thereby raising external awareness of Jinju City's tourism brand.
In addition, Jinju City has focused on developing tourism products utilizing the Hamo character. By creating a variety of Hamo merchandise, the city has introduced programs such as the 'Hamo Night Mission Tour,' where visitors complete missions at Hamo sculptures, and the 'Mobile Stamp Tour,' which involves collecting stamps at major tourist attractions in Jinju. These initiatives have been especially well received by the MZ generation and family tourists, contributing significantly to the revitalization of local tourism.
Furthermore, by opening up the use of the character design to the private sector and implementing policies to exempt or reduce usage fees, the city has encouraged the participation of local small business owners in character-based ventures. This has successfully laid the foundation for the private sector expansion of the character and contributed to the revitalization of the local economy.
Mayor Cho Kyu-il stated, "This award is a result of Jinju City's character-based tourism policy being recognized nationwide," and added, "We will continue to develop marketing initiatives utilizing the Hamo character so that Jinju can become an attractive tourist city that everyone wants to visit."
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