Gyeongbuk Province to Invest 32 Billion Won in Marine Tourism Next Year... 40% Increase from This Year

"Establishing Development Strategies and Infrastructure with Joint Marketing for a Complete Policy Implementation"

Aerial view of Hupo Marina, Uljin-gun.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Jae-ho] Gyeongbuk Province announced on the 15th that it will invest 32 billion KRW in the 2021 budget to strengthen competitiveness and revitalize marine leisure tourism. This amount is 9.1 billion KRW (40%) more than the previous year's main budget of 22.9 billion KRW.

Looking at the major budget items for marine leisure tourism to be invested next year: ▲Research and development expenses (130 million KRW) ▲Marketing activities (150 million KRW) ▲Facility infrastructure construction (18.82 billion KRW) ▲Expansion of waterfront culture (1.14 billion KRW) ▲Creation of tourism demand in fishing villages (8.79 billion KRW) ▲Operation and management of beaches (680 million KRW), etc.

A notable point is that until 2020, hardware projects predominated, whereas next year, new budgets have been allocated for research and development and marketing activities.

Gyeongbuk Province explained that this is to prepare a mid- to long-term development strategy, which can be considered the starting point of marine tourism, while keeping in mind marketing activities that complete marine tourism.

The Gyeongbuk Marine Leisure Tourism Development Strategy Establishment Research Project (100 million KRW) is conducted to redefine mid- to long-term development strategies and policies, and the Gyeongbuk River, Mountain, and Sea Resort-type Tourism Marina Construction Project (30 million KRW) is carried out to utilize idle water surfaces in fishing ports of fishing villages and to establish plans for activating inland water marinas such as dams and reservoirs.

New infrastructure projects include ▲Construction of the Munmu the Great History Museum (520 million KRW) ▲Digital tourism infrastructure construction for the Jusangjeolli Cliff Observatory (980 million KRW) ▲Pilot project for establishing solo tourism mobility on the Coastal Nuri-gil Trail (380 million KRW), among others.

Major infrastructure construction projects currently underway include ▲Marine Healing Center construction (2.6 billion KRW) ▲Youth Marine Education Center construction (4.66 billion KRW) ▲Yonghan Surfer Beach construction project (1.04 billion KRW) ▲Hyeongsan River Marina mooring construction project (1.95 billion KRW), etc.

Additionally, 2.47 billion KRW will be invested in the Yeonam District Marine Culture Space scheduled for completion in 2021, and 4.22 billion KRW in the Ulleung Namyang Marine Tourism Waterfront Space Construction Project.

Gyeongbuk Province is also making strategic efforts to create tourism demand through the revitalization of fishing villages. First, it operates the Return-to-Fishing and Return-to-Village Center (400 million KRW) and the Fishing Village Specialization Support Center (500 million KRW) to attract urban residents to fishing villages, while also promoting regional hub development (4.92 billion KRW) and comprehensive island development projects (2.8 billion KRW).

Kim Seong-hak, Director of the Marine and Fisheries Bureau of Gyeongbuk Province, emphasized, "With the efforts of the newly established Marine Leisure Tourism Division this year, we have laid the foundation for the leap of marine tourism. We will do our best to steadily carry out the projects scheduled for next year so that Gyeongbuk can lead marine tourism."

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