“How to Attract More Tourists to Local Festivals?”... Gyeongbuk Provincial Council Holds Research Service Report Meeting

Hwang Jae-cheol: "Urgent Need to Consolidate Proliferating Festivals"

Park Chang-wook: "New Festivals Should Be Avoided"

The Gyeongbuk Provincial Council's "Research Group on Revitalization Measures for Local Festivals" (led by Representative Park Hong-yeol) held a mid-term report meeting on the "Survey on the Actual Conditions of Local Festivals in Gyeongbuk and Measures to Expand Visitor Inflow" research project on the 14th at the Gyeongbuk Provincial Council multipurpose room.

Kim Tae-kyung, Vice President of the Korea Land and Urban Research Institute, who is responsible for this study, analyzed changes in the conditions of local festivals, recent domestic tourism trends, successful cases and success factors of local festivals at home and abroad, and presented countermeasures for Gyeongbuk, which is facing a population decline crisis, through the case of the "Starry Heaven Yeongyang International Camping Festival."

Members of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Council's Festival Revitalization Research Group are taking a commemorative photo after holding an interim report meeting on the "Research Service for Expanding the Inflow of Visitors to Local Festivals."

At the report meeting, Gyeongbuk Provincial Council member Yeon Gyu-sik pointed out that when festivals are held by the private sector, participation by young people and local residents is low, so improvement measures must be established for the festival to be successful.

Representative Seo Seok-young emphasized that experiential events are practically important as a measure to revitalize local festivals, and that the opinions of local residents and experts should be fully reflected to find ways to develop the festivals into year-round events as an alternative to population extinction.

Representative Hwang Jae-cheol expressed concern about the proliferation of large and small festivals by region and suggested that integrated festivals between regions should be considered to expect a synergy effect through more distinctive festivals.

Representative Park Chang-wook argued that while efforts to find various new ways to attract visitors through local festivals are good, it is necessary to seek developmental directions by linking with existing festivals rather than attempting new festivals independently.

Park Hong-yeol, the head of the research group, emphasized the urgent need to prepare measures to attract "even one more" person to cities and counties in Gyeongbuk, which are facing the crisis of regional extinction. He also requested the research team to supplement the study with practical measures on how to handle the overall content of the mid-term report and to gather various opinions from local sites to ensure effective results.

Additionally, he expressed a strong determination to find solutions with a sense of mission so that the proposal for the "Starry Heaven Yeongyang International Camping Festival," modeled on Yeongyang County, designated as Asia's first International Dark Sky Park, can serve as a model answer for other cities and counties in the province facing regional extinction.

To expand visitor inflow, increase the local population, and actively respond to regional extinction, six members including Representative Park Hong-yeol, Park Chang-wook, Seo Seok-young, Yeon Gyu-sik, Choi Deok-gyu, and Hwang Jae-cheol have formed the council research group "Research Group on Revitalization Measures for Local Festivals in Gyeongbuk" and are promoting the research project.

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