Opening the Era of 100 Million Tourists... Announcing the 2030 Gyeongbuk Tourism Vision

3 Million Foreign Tourists, 5 Trillion Won Tourism Revenue Achieved

"Overcoming Regional Decline Through Tourism" United in Gyeongju

An ambitious project dreaming of an era of 100 million tourists in Gyeongbuk has set sail.

Gyeongbuk Province announced a vision to increase the number of tourists, which surpassed 40 million last year, to 100 million annually by 2030.

On the 16th, Gyeongbuk Province held the ‘2030 Gyeongbuk Tourism Vision’ proclamation ceremony at The-K Hotel in Gyeongju, attended by about 300 people including representatives of the tourism industry, Gyeongsangbuk-do Culture and Tourism Corporation, heads of 23 city and county organizations, and tourism officials.

On this day, a new future vision and strategy for 2030 Gyeongbuk tourism were announced to firmly lead the local era through tourism.

Gyeongbuk Province presented the vision of ‘Real Korea Gyeongbuk, Leading Global K-Tourism,’ setting goals of 100 million tourists, 3 million foreign tourists, and 5 trillion won in tourism revenue.

To successfully achieve this vision, four major strategies will be pursued: realizing Gyeongbuk as a tourism attraction capital visited by people worldwide, industrializing Gyeongbuk tourism created together with the field, globally expanding K-centeredness, and leading the tourism era driven by Gyeongbuk. This plan aims to lead the local era with a new leap in Gyeongbuk tourism.

The proclamation ceremony proceeded in the order of the opening ceremony, awarding appointment letters to Gyeongbuk tourism promotion supporters composed of tourism experts, announcement of the 2030 Gyeongbuk tourism vision, and a performance for the successful realization of the 2030 Gyeongbuk tourism vision with 23 cities and counties.

Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Office.

Last year, the number of tourists visiting Gyeongbuk reached 40.38 million, rapidly recovering to pre-COVID-19 levels. It ranked first among non-metropolitan areas and third nationwide in the number of visitors based on the Korea Tourism Data Lab (KT specific base station standard).

Additionally, Gyeongbuk Province is announcing the opening of Ulleung Airport in 2026 and the integrated new airport in 2030, and is preparing for a two-port era with plans for large passenger cruise operations centered on ports.

To achieve these goals, Gyeongbuk plans to actively promote K-culture-based Gyeongbuk-style tourism resource development, discover and nurture first-class unique tourism content, and revitalize high value-added tourism industries through the convergence of technology and tourism, simultaneously addressing the crisis of local extinction while driving economic revitalization.

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, said, “The vision proclamation ceremony will serve as a catalyst for achieving the era of 100 million tourists in Gyeongbuk,” and emphasized, “We will systematically prepare to proactively respond to the global tourism market.”

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