Sinan-gun, Dochodo Hydrangea Park and Purple Island Selected as 'Top Travel Destinations'

Passenger Survey and Expert Review... Grand Prize Winner at the 2021 SRT Awards

The world's best tourism villages selected by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Anjwa Banwol and Bakji Islands 'Purple Island' ⓒ Asia Economy

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Park Woo-ryang) was selected as the ‘Best Travel Destination’ chosen by readers and experts at the 2021 SRT Awards and received the grand prize.

According to Sinan-gun on the 7th, SRT Magazine selected 10 cities including Sinan as the best travel destinations chosen by SRT this year.

The ‘SRT Best Travel Destination Award’ was first launched in 2018 by SRT, which is used by 36 million people annually, to revitalize domestic travel culture. This year marks the 4th year, and the best travel destinations were selected through a survey of 9,231 passengers and expert evaluations by travel writers and travel journalists.

Sinan-gun features the 10-ri Road of Zelkova trees in Dochodo, which won the Excellence Award in the city forest street tree category, the first of its kind nationwide at the county level, and Hydrangea Park spanning 13.14 hectares where about 5.8 million colorful hydrangea flowers in pink, blue, and purple bloom. Also, the thatched-roof house on the hill, the filming location of director Lee Joon-ik’s Jasan-eobo, is quietly situated.

Especially, Anjwa Banwol and Bakji-do, known as ‘Purple Island,’ which have gained fame beyond Korea to the world, were selected as part of the ‘2021?2022 Korea Tourism 100’ by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization. They are representative tourist destinations in Korea that both Koreans and foreigners visiting Korea must see. They have also been selected as final candidates for the ‘Star of Korean Tourism’ by the Korea Tourism Organization and ‘World’s Best Tourism Village’ by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), becoming a new model for untact tourism.

Park Woo-ryang, Governor of Sinan-gun, said, “In the COVID-19 era, the value of islands has become even more important. The park projects in 14 eup and myeon and marketing using Sinan’s colors are seeing results a few years earlier than expected. Since it is not yet complete, we plan to develop it into Korea’s representative island resort.”

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