Gwangju Dong-gu Accelerates Creation of Original Downtown Tourism Belt

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Steps to create a Gwangju old downtown tourism belt centered around the National Asia Culture Center zone are gaining momentum.

According to Dong-gu on the 10th, following the confirmation of the ‘2020 Tourism Promotion Plan’ earlier this year, full-scale project implementation to establish a tourism belt around the Culture Center is underway.

While rapidly advancing urgent projects to connect the Culture Center and Dongmyeong-dong area into a cultural village embodying the essence of Gwangju, initiatives such as revitalizing the Asia Food Culture District and the Culture Center zone media art nightscape project linked with Gwangju Metropolitan City’s UNESCO Media Art Creative City project will also be in full swing.

Recently, in May, an agreement was signed with related organizations to create the ‘Gwangju Arts Square’ around the May 18 Democratic Plaza with a total project cost of 2.7 billion KRW, which is expected to be reborn as a landmark of Gwangju equipped with diverse cultural contents.

Additionally, the Culture Center building, designed with the concept of ‘Forest of Light,’ and the area around the May 18 Democratic Plaza will be specialized as the ‘Media Park,’ a ‘Garden of Light,’ to quickly expand attractive nighttime urban tourism spots where visitors want to stay.

Moreover, the ‘Jeonil Building,’ a representative space symbolizing the Gwangju Democratization Movement, completed remodeling last month and returned to citizens under the name ‘Jeonil Building 245,’ which is expected to act as a positive factor in promoting tourism in the Culture Center zone.

Dong-gu anticipates that Jeonil Building 245, reborn as a citizen complex cultural space, will be recognized as a citizen cultural space exploring Gwangju’s future and a historic tourist site embodying the spirit of Gwangju.

Alongside this, plans to develop urban tour programs targeting modern cultural heritage and landmarks in the old downtown such as Ojiho Street, Ogahyeon, Kumho Citizen Culture Center, and Art Street will be steadily promoted to turn sightseeing, dining, and entertainment into tourism resources.

Im Taek, Mayor of Dong-gu, said, “Urban tourism utilizing cultural and artistic resources is becoming a new travel trend,” and added, “We will foster the Culture Center zone as a representative tourist attraction of Gwangju and a new growth engine to brighten the region’s future.”

Meanwhile, in January, Dong-gu signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with eight related organizations including the Culture Center, Gwangju Cultural Foundation, and Gwangju Tourism Convention Bureau to jointly develop urban tourism activation programs for the Culture Center zone and core urban tourism contents and products. They are also accelerating the establishment of a collaborative system by holding working-level committee meetings with representatives from each organization.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.