Gangwon-do July Tourism, Repeat Visitors 'Mania' and 'Inland Tourist Spots' Emerging

Total Tourists Exceed 13.38 Million... 243% Surge in Buyeon-dong Village, Gangneung-si

[Provided by Gangwon-do Tourism Foundation]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ra Young-cheol] The total number of tourists visiting Gangwon Province in July this year reached approximately 13.38 million, showing a sharp increase in visitors to relatively lesser-known small-scale inland tourist spots due to repeat visits by so-called 'maniacs'.

According to the analysis of Gangwon tourism trends based on big data released by the Gangwon Tourism Foundation on the 31st, Buyun-dong Village in Gangneung City, known as the 'first village under the sky' at an altitude of over 400m, and Yongoreum Village operated by residents of Hongcheon County showed an increase of 243% and 125%, respectively, due to the preference of repeat visitors for small-scale inland tourism.

Additionally, the Gyebangsan Auto Camping Site in Pyeongchang County and the Gangwon Forest Experience Center in Chuncheon City increased by 88% and 75%, respectively. This was attributed to these being relatively lesser-known small-scale inland tourist spots within the province and a high proportion of repeat visitors from the metropolitan area.

The number of visitors in July this year showed a 26% increase, rising by about 2.74 million compared to the previous month, but showed a slight decrease of 7%, down by 1.02 million compared to the same period last year.

The decrease compared to the previous year is presumed to be due to strengthened quarantine measures and psychological burdens amid the spread of the Delta variant, which partially suppressed travel demand.

By city and county, Goseong County had the highest tourist increase rate compared to the previous month at about 33.8%, followed by Pyeongchang County, Yeongwol County, and Taebaek City.

Goseong County saw an increase in visitors centered around beaches in Toseong-myeon and Jukwang-myeon, influenced by its role as an alternative summer resort due to the social distancing upgrades in nearby Yangyang County and Gangneung City.

In terms of tourism consumption, there was an increase of about 10.5 billion KRW, a 6.4% rise compared to June this year, totaling approximately 175.5 billion KRW.

Among total consumption, food expenditure was the highest at 117.1 billion KRW, and accommodation expenditure rose by about 20% to 33.6 billion KRW.

Regarding trends by departure location, Namyangju City in Gyeonggi Province had the highest number of visitors at about 350,000, followed by Songpa-gu and Gangnam-gu in Seoul, and Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province.

Notably, Seo-gu in Incheon Metropolitan City entered the top 20 for the first time since February this year in June and continued to see a gradual increase in visitors in July, indicating the potential expansion of the tourism market from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to Incheon.

Jung Tae-hoon, head of the Smart Tourism Team at the Tourism Foundation, stated, "The tourism trends in July suggested the need to discover clean and safe tourism content in Gangwon Province through non-face-to-face inland natural tourist spots amid the COVID-19 situation."

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