Gokseong-gun Launches Workation Project in Full Swing

Published 15 Jun.2023 17:36(KST)

Forest Camp for Professional Job Groups

Aiming to Become the Premier Workation Destination for Regional Branding

Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Lee Sang-cheol) announced on the 15th that it is actively promoting the Gokseong-style workation project, ‘Work Village in Gokseong.’

The workation (work + vacation) project at Simcheong Hanok Village in Gokseong-gun offers companies a concept beyond just workation.

[Photo by Gokseong-gun]

In particular, it has created a new concept called Work Village to expand the living population and form a new population of companies settling in the area.

It is differentiated from the existing workations focused on rest or tourism, emphasizing providing an immersive work experience while temporarily living in the region.

Since starting the pilot project in 2022, about 110 companies have participated so far, and efforts continue to attract new companies.

The workation program operated for three months from June to September 2022 was used by 42 companies, with 187 participants.

It achieved successful results, with 98% of participants expressing a desire to revisit, indicating high satisfaction.

This year, starting April 27, the workation program officially began operating for startups and nonprofit startups supported by the Hyundai Asan Nanum Foundation.

As of June, about 140 employees from 23 companies visited Simcheong Hanok Village to experience Gokseong-gun’s unique workation.

Additionally, from the second half of the year, a Forest Camp will be held targeting professional job groups such as developers, designers, and planners.

The Forest Camp is a program where participants live in Gokseong while working and getting to know the local area. It will start at the end of June and run for a total of six sessions.

To expand the workation project, Gokseong-gun applied in May for the ‘Workation category’ of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Hometown Olle contest.

Currently, it has passed the document screening and is preparing for the on-site evaluation at the end of June.

If selected, the idle facilities within Simcheong Hanok Village will be renovated and remodeled to expand on a larger scale.

Through these improvements, it will be possible to accommodate more company employees simultaneously, which is expected to have a positive effect in attracting large-scale companies.

Furthermore, the old Samgi Middle School site in the Gwaesori area of Samgi-myeon will undergo the Rustic Town advancement project.

There, family-stay rural study and workation youth residence facilities will be established, and a ‘regional residence autonomous work system’ will be introduced.

This aims to encourage active corporate participation by enabling long-term residence and work in the region, moving away from short-term stays.

A Gokseong-gun official said, “We plan to expand the sustainable inflow of living population through forming related companies via workation,” adding, “We will do our best to secure regional branding and become a holy land of workation.”