Giwol Hong of Gwangju City Council Urges Immediate Promotion of Nighttime Tourism

Calls for Investment in Differentiated Content During "5-Minute Speech"
City Explains, "Currently Pursuing a Five-Year Tourism Development Plan"

Hong Giwol, a member of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council, is delivering a "5-minute speech" at the 1st plenary session of the 337th meeting on the 13th. Provided by Gwangju Metropolitan Council

There have been calls to invigorate Gwangju’s economy by promoting nighttime tourism.

On October 13, Hong Giwol, a member of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council (Democratic Party of Korea, Dong-gu District 1), urged the city to raise awareness about the importance of nighttime tourism and to actively participate in central government public project bids during his "5-minute speech" at the 1st plenary session of the 337th meeting.

Assemblyman Hong emphasized the economic ripple effects of nighttime tourism. According to a Korea Tourism Organization survey, nighttime tourism increases the average length of stay for travelers by 0.7 days and significantly boosts spending compared to daytime tourism-shopping by 31%, leisure by 27%, and dining by 19%. These findings suggest that nighttime tourism is a key driver in stimulating local consumption and revitalizing the overall economy.

However, Assemblyman Hong criticized Gwangju City for its lukewarm attitude, pointing out that despite the mandatory requirement to establish a basic plan under the Nighttime Tourism Promotion Ordinance, the city does not expect to complete one until 2027. He also expressed regret that, even though the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has designated and intensively supported ten cities-including Incheon, Busan, and Daejeon-as "nighttime tourism specialized cities" since 2022, Gwangju has made no preparations and is falling behind in the competition.

As practical measures to promote nighttime tourism, he proposed the establishment of a basic plan for nighttime tourism promotion, active participation in national public project bids, and investment in developing differentiated content.

Assemblyman Hong stated, "Gwangju possesses unique assets that cannot be imitated by others, such as the values of democracy, culture and arts, and natural resources." He argued, "We must weave these distinctive resources into stories and widely produce related programs to secure differentiated nighttime tourism content." He added, "I urge the Gwangju city government to take swift and proactive action to revitalize the local economy in a way that citizens can truly feel, and to help Gwangju become a true 'City of Light.'"

In response, a city official stated, "We are working on establishing a more comprehensive tourism plan (the Five-Year Tourism Development Plan) to promote nighttime tourism. To this end, we collaborated with the Local Government Research Institute to explore ways to boost nighttime tourism in August last year, gathered diverse opinions through a tourism governance body involving the public, private, academic, and industrial sectors since May last year, and have been analyzing local conditions and related cases since September this year."

The official further emphasized, "This approach is intended not to limit nighttime tourism to a single aspect, but to make it a major component of Gwangju’s comprehensive tourism development, and to establish a systematic, integrated, and sustainable tourism development plan."

Meanwhile, separate from the overall tourism plan, the city is actively identifying and pursuing national government-funded projects to promote nighttime tourism, such as the "creation of art-integrated nighttime tourism spaces" (2024-2027, 27.2 billion won) and the "Light Road Urban Nighttime Tourism Promotion Project" (2022-2026, 19 billion won), both part of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Southern Region Metropolitan Tourism Development Project.