Gyeongbuk Province Goes Big to Boost Local Tourism... Drives Second Half Tourism Marketing with Grand Sale

Train Travel Support, Geumgong Shared Vehicle Discounts, Accommodation Promotions, and More Travel Product Sales

Special Discounts on Wellness Products and Full Incentive Support for Group Tourists

Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Office.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Gwi-yeol] Gyeongbuk Province has rolled up its sleeves to attract tourists.

Gyeongbuk Province is investing 2 billion KRW secured through the first supplementary budget to promote the ‘2022 Gyeongbuk Tourism Grand Sale’.

With the lifting of social distancing measures and the transition to normal life in April, domestic travel demand has surged explosively, focusing on revitalizing the tourism industry, stabilizing livelihoods, and safe individual travel free from COVID-19.

According to Gyeongbuk Province’s tourism statistics at the end of June, 17.27 million people visited Gyeongbuk based on admissions to 334 major tourist sites in the region, an increase of 32% compared to the same period last year.

Analysis of KT big data from mobile carriers also showed that the number of visitors to Gyeongbuk reached 80.74 million, a 7% increase from the same period last year.

Looking into the detailed projects of this Grand Sale, first, an eco-friendly train travel campaign is being promoted in collaboration with Korea Railroad Corporation.

Leveraging improved accessibility to the metropolitan area following the opening of the KTX-Eum line last year, travelers visiting the region using KTX trains on the Jungang Line (Andong, Yeongju, Punggi stations) and Gyeongbu Line (Pohang, Singyeongju, Gimcheon, Gumi, Dongdaegu stations) will receive a 10% discount on rail fares along with travel support funds (up to 50,000 KRW per person, cash recharge on Rail Plus Card).

In connection with eco-friendly train travel, an incentive support project for shared vehicle services is also being promoted to revitalize tourism in the northern and central-western areas of Gyeongbuk.

When using vehicles at Socar zones near KTX stations, 80% of the cost is supported (40% by the province, 40% by the company), available at 25 Socar zones (165 vehicles) across three Jungang Line stations (Andong, Yeongju, Punggi) and one Gyeongbu Line station (Gimcheon Gumi).

The province plans to gradually expand the service areas based on the response to the shared vehicle service usage.

In preparation for the summer vacation season, vacation expenses will be supported for workers of small and medium-sized enterprises nationwide.

When purchasing Gyeongbuk travel products on the contracted online mall (SK Benepia), a 50% discount on the product price (up to 100,000 KRW) will be provided, and for travel products to Uljin, an area affected by large wildfires, discounts of up to 150,000 KRW are available.

Additionally, an activity experience tourism support project is underway, where participants who enjoy activities such as ziplining, paragliding, yachting, surfing, etc., and complete at least one mobile certification mission will receive a gifticon worth about 10,000 KRW through a roulette draw.

Using traditional local liquors, which have recently become popular among the MZ generation, a promotional campaign for Gyeongbuk traditional liquor will also be conducted, allowing visitors to experience liquor culture such as traditional liquor brewing.

Following the first half of the year, unique online events and viral marketing, including the SNS event ‘Gyeongbuk, How Far Have You Been?’ targeting visitors to Gyeongbuk, will continue to be actively promoted.

To attract tourists during the off-season around November, the ‘2022 Gyeongbuk Accommodation Grand Sale Autumn Edition’ will also be promoted.

When paying 70,000 KRW or more at local accommodations, a 50,000 KRW discount coupon will be provided, and significant discounts will be pursued in partnership with major domestic accommodation reservation platforms to ensure a comfortable stay in Gyeongbuk.

In June, the ‘2022 Korea Accommodation Grand Sale Regional Edition’ already recorded the largest discount sales nationwide, with 15,000 coupons (worth 750 million KRW) sold out within three days.

With growing interest in healing, safety, and wellness, wellness tourism has become a new tourism axis, and ‘Gyeongbuk Wellness Tourism Products’ will also be sold at significant discounts.

Centered on five cities and counties designated as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s wellness tourism cluster in March?Yeongju, Yeongyang, Yeongdeok, Bonghwa, and Uljin?specialized programs and linked tourism products will be developed to revitalize wellness tourism.

In connection with the Charm Wellness Festival to be held in October, healing and wellness tourism products in the province will be actively promoted, and discount promotions will be used to solidify Gyeongbuk’s image as the ‘Number One Wellness Tourism Destination.’

With the increase in offline festivals this year, group travelers are also expected to visit ahead of the festival season in autumn.

Accordingly, Gyeongbuk plans to actively respond to the recovery of the travel industry by developing and selling unique travel products exclusive to Gyeongbuk and providing substantial special incentives such as charter bus rental fees to travel agencies that attract group tourists.

The Grand Sale will be carried out sequentially by individual projects starting in August.

Kim Sang-cheol, Director of the Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau of the province, said, “We have prepared various travel discount products through this Grand Sale to help the travel industry and local economy, which were depressed due to COVID-19, recover again. Although there is caution as COVID-19 cases are rising again recently, we will do our best to manage quarantine measures and actively promote tourism revitalization through appropriate methods such as individual travel and online approaches.”

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