Gurye-gun, the Year of the Black Tiger as the Inaugural Year for Creating a Future Tourism Ecosystem

All-Out Efforts to Develop Ecotourism and Tourism Infrastructure in the Four Major Regions

[Gurye=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yuk Miseok] Jeollanam-do Gurye-gun (Governor Kim Sun-ho) announced on the 4th that in the new year of the Year of the Black Tiger, it will systematically establish tourism infrastructure centered on the four major zones of Gurye-eup, Seomjingang, Hwaeomsa, and Jirisan Hot Springs, along with realizing future tourism development that can quickly adapt to the changed tourism ecosystem due to COVID-19.

In December last year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism finalized and announced the 4th Basic Tourism Development Plan and derived six major promotion strategies and 17 key tasks for realizing future tourism development.

The basic plan set goals of ‘win-win tourism where people and regions grow together,’ ‘intelligent (smart) innovative tourism pursuing qualitative development,’ and ‘sustainable tourism coexisting with future generations.’

In Gurye-gun, various tourism policies will be promoted in the new year to create a smart tourism ecosystem that can be linked with government policies.

Through the special zone revitalization project selected by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s public contest, immersive VR video content will be produced and installed in the special zone, including Sansuyu seedling sites and the Sansuyu Culture Center.

Through the Jeollanam-do public contest project, tourism resource metaverse content will be built, major tourist site AR content will be produced, and smart tourism content linked with Jirisan area cities and counties will also be developed.

The expansion projects for tourism infrastructure by the four major zones will be promoted focusing on Gurye-eup, Seomjingang, Hwaeomsa, and Jirisan Hot Springs zones.

In the Gurye-eup zone, improvement of residential conditions will be pursued through the construction of an integrated harmony center and a wellness complex center. In the Seomjingang zone, the Seomjingang Integrated Tourism Belt project involving four cities and counties will be promoted, along with the introduction of unique leisure facilities such as sky bike and sky surfer.

The Hwaeomsa zone will promote the Hwaeomsa Blue Tour project and the creation of a habitat for Asiatic black bears, while the Jirisan Hot Springs zone plans to open a zipline and monorail and proceed with the second phase of the project.

A county official stated that although the tourism industry was greatly contracted due to flood damage and COVID-19, the airing of MBN’s ‘Naturally’, tvN’s ‘Youn’s Stay’, and ‘Jirisan’ increased domestic and international recognition, resulting in a 36.4% increase in tourists.

With the domestic and international tourism environment rapidly changing due to COVID-19, the county plans to make the new year of the Year of the Black Tiger the first year to create Gurye’s future tourism ecosystem by promoting ‘ecotourism environment’ and ‘projects by the four zones’ as core tourism policies that meet tourism demand.

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