Imsil County Sees Record-High 1.29 Million Tourists Last Month

Imsil N Cheese Festival, Cheese Theme Park, and Okjeong Lake Lead the Way

Imsil County in North Jeolla Province announced on November 10 that the number of tourists visiting Imsil County last month reached a historic monthly high of 1.29 million.

Imsil County recorded a historic monthly high of 1.29 million tourists visiting the area last month. Photo by Imsil County

According to recently released data from the Korea Tourism Organization's Data Lab, the number of visitors to Imsil County last month was tallied at 1.29 million.

This is the highest monthly figure for visitors to Imsil County since the Korea Tourism Organization began collecting statistics in 2018, and it represents a remarkable 35% increase compared to the same period last year.

This achievement is attributed to the nationwide influx of tourists generated by the "2025 Imsil N Cheese Festival," which was organized in celebration of the 2025 Year of Visiting Imsil.

In addition, after the festival ended, large numbers of visitors from across the country came to see the chrysanthemums and Gujeolcho flowers on display at the Cheese Theme Park, as well as the autumn flower spectacles at the Okjeong Lake Suspension Bridge and Bungeo Island Ecological Park, which significantly contributed to the increase in tourist numbers.

The concentrated promotional efforts also played a significant role in attracting crowds to key tourist destinations such as the Imsil N Cheese Festival, Cheese Theme Park, and Okjeong Lake.

In fact, the county's newly established Public Relations Office, set up earlier this year, spearheaded thorough, pre-planned promotional marketing for seasonal festivals and major tourist attractions. They utilized four main channels-newspapers, broadcasting, telecommunications, and the internet, including YouTube and other social media platforms-to maximize the impact.

Back in May, when the Imsil Pet Star event was held alongside the Osu Dog Memorial Festival, the monthly visitor count surpassed 1 million early on.

At that time, the combination of the Golden Week holidays and Family Month led to a surge of visitors, particularly to the Okjeong Lake Suspension Bridge, Imsil Cheese Theme Park Rose Garden, and Osu Dog Memorial Tourist Site. Consistent pre-promotion of the Cheese Festival and major attractions from the summer onward laid the foundation for this upward trend.

In October, breaking the May record, even more visitors flocked to Imsil. The overlap of the Cheese Festival and peak autumn tourism demand resulted in the highest growth rate. During the five-day "2025 Imsil N Cheese Festival," held from October 8 to 12, a record 610,000 people attended, marking the festival's peak.

The festival was highly praised for its differentiated, visitor-centric programs and well-organized, content-rich five-day schedule. The strategic, cohesive promotional efforts led by the Public Relations Office stood out even more during the county's year-round festivals.

Interactive events encouraged enthusiastic participation from both younger generations and families, while real-time content promotion-linking the festival site with social media-spread rapidly through posts, reels, and short-form videos, garnering hundreds of thousands of online views and greatly increasing nationwide attention.

This record is a noteworthy example of how Imsil County's proactive promotional activities have translated into tangible tourism results, going beyond simply the success of the festival itself.

The county has been posting on-site video content in real time through official social media channels such as the YouTube channel "ImsilN TV" and Instagram, spreading information about tourist attractions and festival news nationwide.

Building on the success of the October festival, the county plans to further boost year-end tourism demand by strengthening event and experience-focused promotional programs for the upcoming "Imsil Santa Festival" during the Christmas season in December.

Governor Shim Min stated, "Following the milestone of 1 million visitors in May, last month we achieved a record-breaking 1.29 million visitors. We will continue to strengthen our online and offline promotional strategies to realize the era of 10 million cumulative tourists and further revitalize the local economy."