On the 26th, Hong Taeyong, mayor of Gimhae in South Gyeongsang Province, met with Kang Daeun, Secretary-General of the Tourism Promotion Organization for Asia Pacific Cities (TPO), who visited City Hall, to discuss preparations for the 2026 TPO Korea Regional Meeting and plans for international tourism cooperation.
The meeting was arranged to strengthen the cooperation framework after Gimhae City was selected as the host city for the next TPO General Assembly at the TPO General Assembly held in Vietnam in September last year.
During the meeting, the two discussed matters including confirming the detailed schedule for the 2026 TPO Korea Regional Meeting, preparation plans for the 2027 TPO General Assembly, and ways to link the event with the K-CLIP program, a Korean culture and language experience event for overseas youth.
Hong Taeyong, Mayor of Gimhae, Gyeongsangnam-do (third from left), and Kang Daeun, Secretary-General of the Tourism Promotion Organization (TPO), who visited City Hall, are posing for a commemorative photo holding a placard announcing the host city for the 2027 TPO General Assembly. Photo by Gimhae City
The 2026 TPO Korea Regional Meeting is an annual event in which officials from 50 TPO member cities in Korea and tourism experts participate to discuss the development direction of Korea's tourism industry, and it will be held in July this year in various areas of Gimhae.
As the city is hosting the Korea Regional Meeting for the first time, it will focus its capabilities on showcasing its competitiveness and attractiveness as a tourism hub city both domestically and internationally.
The city plans to strengthen its cooperation framework to ensure the successful hosting of the TPO General Assembly scheduled for 2027 and to further enhance its city brand by attracting large-scale international tourism events.
The TPO General Assembly is the organization's largest event, held every two years, and is an international conference attended by about 300 tourism officials from more than 40 cities in 8 countries.
As a TPO co-chair city for 2026-2027, Gimhae also plans to participate in various international events over the next two years and expand its global tourism network.
The city plans to attend this year's events, including the 46th TPO Executive Committee (EXCOM) meeting to be held in Gyeongju in March, the Korea Regional Meeting to be held in Gimhae in July, the 10th TPO Forum to be held in Taichung, Taiwan in September, and the 2nd Global Urban Tourism Summit to be held in Busan in October, in order to actively promote Gimhae's tourism resources to the international community.
Mayor Hong said, "Based on close cooperation with TPO, we will successfully host the Korea Regional Meeting this July and devote our full efforts to preparing for the 2027 TPO General Assembly, making this a turning point for Gimhae to leap forward as a tourism city that attracts global attention."
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