Jinju City Selected as '2022 World Festival City' by the International Festivals & Events Association

Competed in the US National Finals and Won the World Festival Award

Jinju City, Gyeongnam, participated in the World Festival Association's U.S. national competition and was selected as the "2022 World Festival City."

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Jinju City, Gyeongnam Province, announced on the 23rd that it was selected as the ‘2022 World Festival City’ and received the World Festival Award after participating in the 65th International Festival and Events Association (IFEA WORLD) finals held in the United States on the 21st local time.

The International Festival and Events Association, established in 1956, is the world's largest international event organization with 3,000 regular members and 50,000 associate members from 50 countries including the United States. It is the top association supporting and promoting festival and event experts worldwide.

The 65th IFEA finals took place over three days from the 19th in McAllen City, Texas, USA, with participation from 130 cities across 8 countries on 6 continents.

On the third day of the finals, the 21st, Jinju City proudly received the award in recognition of the historical significance and globalization of the Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival.

McAllen City, where the competition was held, signed a ‘Festival Time MOU’ with Jinju City in 2019 and has been promoting exchanges such as organizing a lantern parade locally. The mayor of McAllen is positively considering visiting the Yudeung Festival this coming October.

A city official stated, “Following the selection as a World Festival City, we will do our best to develop into one of the ‘Top 5 Festivals in the World’ that people want to revisit by not remaining limited to local festivals but by developing differentiated content and promoting exchanges between world cities to become a sustainable festival city that resonates globally.”

He added, “The positive significance of Jinju City’s award this time shows the potential for local festivals to be commercialized as cultural products like the K-POP wave and to develop into Korea’s tourism resources.”

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