Goheung Regional Development Forum Explores 'Geogeumdo Tourism Development Plans'

Concrete Proposals Through the Excellent Policy Suggestion Forum by Residents

Exploring Directions for Change and Development in Goheung through Public-Private Cooperation

Gohung-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Gong Young-min) held the "2nd 2023 Regional Development Strategy Forum" on the 18th at the Kim Il Memorial Gymnasium in Geumsan-myeon under the theme "Exploring Tourism Development Plans for Geogeumdo, the Second Jeju Island."

This forum was organized to concretize excellent policy proposals suggested by residents during the "Regional Development Strategy Discussion Meeting," where Governor Gong Young-min toured 16 towns and townships in January to discuss regional development with the residents, together with experts, residents, and related field workers.

[Photo by Goheung-gun]

This is the second forum following the first strategy forum held in April on the theme of "Increasing Local Residents' Income through the Creation of Honeybee Habitats and Health Forests."

The event began with presentations on the discussion topics, followed by designated discussions by expert panels from various fields related to tourism policy, development, planning, regional culture, and social economy.

The first presenter, Ryu Jeong-ah, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, explained the importance and development direction of island tourism today, emphasizing that it is necessary to avoid the conventional approach of developing islands by building typical infrastructure without analyzing the unique resources and characteristics of each individual island.

She stressed that before building infrastructure on islands, it is essential to first collect residents' opinions related to island tourism and analyze island tourism demand.

This point resonated strongly with the attendees, as it not only pertains to Geogeumdo but also has significant implications for the direction of island tourism policies and planning in South Korea.

The second presenter, Professor Shim Won-seop of Mokpo University’s Department of Tourism Management, proposed specific strategies and tasks for the tourism development of Geogeumdo.

His tourism development strategies for Geogeumdo included ▲ strengthening island brand marketing through marketing of island attractions, spots, and specialties ▲ developing attractive content and revenue models based on Geogeumdo’s natural scenery, culture, and local industries ▲ continuously promoting resident-participatory island beautification projects through local community involvement.

As tasks for tourism development, he suggested ▲ enhancing promotion and marketing of beautiful island spots ▲ developing trendy wellness tourism products ▲ creating island vacation (seomcance) products ▲ developing gourmet travel products through Geogeumdo’s local cuisine ▲ developing lifestyle tourism and workation business models utilizing Geogeumdo’s unique island living culture.

Professor Shim emphasized the importance of community-based tourism development that preserves the island’s unique amenities such as history, culture, and natural scenery, avoiding artificial development.

In particular, ideas such as island vacation stays utilizing idle spaces and gourmet travel products based on Geogeumdo’s local cuisine were widely regarded as tourism content that well captures the charm of Geogeumdo.

Following this, Song Tae-gap, an invited expert in landscape and garden fields from the Gwangju Jeonnam Research Institute, proposed ▲ introducing a marine-forest complex theme garden and hosting an island garden expo ▲ developing the Golden Ocean Road trekking and driving courses. Tourism planning expert Yoon Jeong-jun, director of "Korea’s Roads and Culture," suggested ▲ creating amenity landscapes along Geogeumdo’s trail ▲ emphasizing the need for local resident participation in tourism planning. Social economy and island tourism expert Yoon Mi-sook, director of Ollin Contents Lab Co., Ltd., proposed ▲ holding a competition for island village beautification projects involving village residents, which also attracted attention.

After the expert panel discussion, policy proposals and free Q&A sessions were held with residents attending the forum. One resident proposed changing the administrative name of Geumsan-myeon, the administrative district of Geogeumdo, to "Geogeum-myeon."

The opinion was that since the name "Geogeumdo" is well known externally, it is necessary to unify the administrative name accordingly.

Additionally, Kang Chun-ae, a cultural tourism guide in Gohung-gun, suggested the need to resume cruise ship operations at Geumjin Port, which many tourists used before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants in the forum evaluated that gathering residents, experts, related field workers, and public officials in one place to jointly consider the changes and development directions of Gohung-gun and to prepare policy development plans to reflect policy proposals in county administration was productive.

Many also viewed it positively as a learning and growth opportunity for both the public and private sectors through this discussion platform.

Based on this forum, Gohung-gun plans to research various measures and implement practical programs to develop Geogeumdo as a tourism resource dubbed the "Second Jeju Island," aiming to establish a base for the "10 million tourists era" in Gohung.

In particular, they stated they will actively reflect the valuable opinions of local residents and experts in policies, discover revenue models through "local tourism," lead local tourism trends, and ultimately increase local residents' income.

Meanwhile, in August, the 3rd forum will be held under the theme "Exploring Population Inflow and Regional Economic Revitalization Measures Following the Designation of the Space Launch Vehicle Industry Cluster," continuing communication with residents.

Gohung = Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Shim Jeong-woo hss79@asiae.co.kr

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