A City to Stay and Return To
Jinju Launches Full-Scale Strategic Tourism Marketing
Jinju City in South Gyeongsang Province will fully implement a strategic tourism marketing initiative in 2026, focusing on shifting to stay-type tourism and expanding local spending, with the goal of attracting 2.15 million tourists.
To transform itself from a simple day-trip destination into a city where visitors stay and want to return, the city plans to organically link and operate a variety of marketing projects, including attracting group tours, hosting participatory events, and providing mobile-based tourism content.
◆ Incentives for attracting group tourists focused on linking stays and spending
Jinju City is promoting the "Incentive Support Program for Attracting Group Tourists" to increase tourist stays and revitalize the local economy. The program focuses on encouraging travel agencies to attract group tourists and on strengthening the tourism flow that leads to visits to tourist attractions within the city, followed by accommodation and spending.
Incentives will be provided based on performance in attracting various types of group tours, including group, rail, and air tours, and for same-day group tours, bus rental fees will also be subsidized. In addition, the city plans to pay reward-based subsidies to travel agencies with outstanding records in attracting group tours, as well as to local tourist accommodation facilities and tourism experience centers, to encourage voluntary participation from the tourism industry.
The city will also provide incentives for wide-area group tour products linked with Sacheon City and Sancheong County, thereby strengthening tourism linkages with neighboring areas and increasing the inflow of wide-area stay-type tourists. Detailed information, including specific support criteria and application methods, can be found on the Jinju City website.
◆ Operating participatory tourism content centered on a mobile stamp tour
Jinju City will operate participatory tourism content throughout the year, centered on a "Mobile Stamp Tour," to encourage tourists to voluntarily visit attractions and extend their stays.
Tourists can earn stamps by visiting major tourist attractions through a mobile app, and receive souvenirs featuring the tourism character "Hamo" based on the number of stamps collected. Through this, the city plans to expand tourist movement routes and naturally encourage linked visits between major tourist attractions.
The mobile stamp tour will be used as a key tool to increase tourist engagement and encourage repeat visits by linking it with various tourism marketing initiatives, such as group and individual tours and seasonal events.
◆ Valentine’s Day and Lunar New Year holiday participatory tourism event in collaboration with "Jinju Bbangayo"
To mark Valentine’s Day and the Lunar New Year holiday, Jinju City will operate a participatory tourism event in collaboration with "Jinju Bbangayo," a local bread specialty shop brand in Jinju, to attract more tourists from outside the city and to stimulate tourism-driven spending centered on local commercial districts.
The event will run from the 9th until the 28th and will consist of a stamp tour and a social media certification event linking major tourist attractions in Jinju City with 15 certified "Jinju Bbangayo" bread specialty shops.
The "Jinju Bbangayo Stamp Tour" is a participatory program in which visitors can receive souvenirs by collecting stamps at certified "Jinju Bbangayo" stores. Visitors who go to three locations will receive a "Hamo magnet," and those who visit five locations will receive a "Hamo keyring." Through this, the city plans to encourage tourists to visit multiple shops and to ensure that spending naturally spreads within local commercial districts.
In addition, to coincide with the Valentine’s Day and Lunar New Year holiday season, the city will also run a social media event in which participants certify their visits to travel courses that link major tourist attractions in Jinju with "Jinju Bbangayo" stores. Participants who visit at least two tourist attractions and one or more "Jinju Bbangayo" stores and post verification photos and reviews on social media will receive Hamo merchandise.
An official from Jinju City said, "This event is an example of lifestyle tourism marketing that links the existing 'Jinju Bbangayo' brand with Jinju’s tourism resources," adding, "We expect it will provide visitors with the joy of participation while creating tangible spending effects for local commercial districts."
◆ "2026 Jinju Culture and Tourism Signature Product Development Contest" to revitalize local tourism
To revitalize the tourism market in the Jinju area, Jinju City, together with the Jinju Culture and Tourism Foundation and the tourism industry, is promoting the "2026 Jinju Culture and Tourism Signature Product Development Contest."
This contest aims to discover and foster stay-type tourism products that utilize unique tourism resources in the Jinju area. The city will select representative tourism products that can be operated year-round and provide support for promotional marketing and part of the operating costs.
The contest is divided into three categories: stay-type specialized tourism products; wellness and workation-linked products; and stay-type specialized products exclusively for inbound tourists. All products must be structured as stay-type programs of at least two days and one night and must be ready for immediate recruitment and operation.
The city plans to select up to around 10 tourism products, with a focus on differentiated offerings that reflect Jinju’s unique historical, cultural, natural, and nighttime tourism resources. The selected products will be nurtured as flagship offerings through Jinju City’s tourism product certification system.
◆ Strengthening the city’s tourism image through online-offline integrated tourism marketing
In addition, Jinju City will raise nationwide awareness of Jinju tourism by organizing familiarization tours for social media influencers, operating billboards in major cities, and running promotional booths at major tourism fairs. The city will also deploy cultural tourism interpreters and tourism promotion staff at major tourist attractions to provide tailored tourism information to visitors.
An official from Jinju City said, "We are focusing not just on increasing the number of tourists, but on building a tourism structure that leads to longer stays and greater spending," adding, "By organically linking various tourism marketing initiatives, we will achieve our goal of attracting 2.15 million tourists and make Jinju a city that people want to visit and stay in."
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