Imsil-gun Holds Major Business Plan Report Meeting... Accelerates Efforts to Achieve Ten Million Tourists

Published 08 Nov.2023 14:32(KST)

Imsil-gun, Jeonbuk, has designated 2024 as the year to realize the vision of "Ten Million Tourists in Imsil" and is accelerating the implementation of urgent projects across all sectors with a sense of urgency.

On the 8th, the county announced that since the 1st, County Governor Shim Min has presided over departmental major business plan reporting meetings to design next year's county administration, conducting in-depth discussions.

Recently, County Governor Sim Min presided over a report meeting on major departmental work plans for next year's county administration design and conducted in-depth discussions.
[Photo by Imsil County]

At this reporting meeting, the direction and goals for major pending projects in the coming year were established, and specific execution plans for the core goal of the 8th elected county administration, the "Blueprint for the Era of Ten Million Tourists in Imsil," were reviewed.

The county plans to focus on developing the Okjeongho Lake area tourism, reinforcing facilities at the Imsil Cheese Theme Park, creating a pet-friendly tourist site in Osu, and developing wellness tourism at Seongsusan Mountain to build a premium tourism belt.

Under the leadership of Governor Shim Min, the county has been striving to develop tourism resources and infrastructure to revitalize the tourism industry, a future growth sector.

As a result, the 9th Imsil N Cheese Festival held at the Imsil Cheese Theme Park area attracted a record-breaking 559,000 visitors over four days from the 6th of last month.

By early November, 360,000 tourists had visited the suspension bridge connecting the Okjeongho Crucian Carp Island Ecological Park, which officially opened in March this year, transforming Okjeongho into a new major tourist destination in Imsil.

Building on these achievements, the county plans to further accelerate tourism development next year.

First, through the creation of the Okjeongho Jaraseom Eco Healing Tourism Land, the county aims to develop the Jaraseom Island (90,000㎡) area into a premium ecological tourist site and complete an 89.3 km waterfront trail linking the developing Okjeongho tourism resources.

Additionally, through the Econuri Campus (Comprehensive Tourism and Leisure Complex) project, lodging facilities and private investment sites will be offered for sale in the first half of next year, while large-scale private investments such as cable cars and zip lines will be introduced to dramatically transform Okjeongho.

At the Imsil Cheese Theme Park, the representative tourist site of Imsil, the cheese capital of Korea, plans include the creation of a European-style rose garden, the Imsil Cheese Village rural theme park, and the construction of a Kids Land.

In particular, through the healing tourism belt project connecting Seongsusan Mountain and the Cheese Theme Park, facilities at the Cheese Theme Park will be reinforced by creating five healing lodges and a healing garden.

Osu, known as the hometown of opinions, will swiftly carry out administrative procedures for the World Famous Dog Theme Land project and complete the maintenance of Osu's opinion tourist site, the pet support center, and the camping ground by next year.

Seongsusan Mountain, which holds the founding legends of the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, will lead with the recently opened National Leisure Camping Ground and open a forest leisure cultural facility in March next year, developing it into a healing forest leisure tourism hub equipped with forest sports facilities and a forest playground.

The county plans to actively promote improvements in residential infrastructure to enhance living conditions and quality of life for residents.

To this end, the old Jeil Theater will be demolished and a Residential Vitality Complex Center will be built, creating a multi-cultural space including a cinema, bowling alley, and bathhouse, making it a local landmark. The design will be completed next year to promptly implement the project.

In addition to the prompt commencement of construction for the Osu-Gwanchon public rental apartments currently underway through an agreement with Jeonbuk Development Corporation, the county will quickly complete land acquisition for the construction of Imsil public rental apartments, aiming to improve residents' housing welfare and attract population.

The county is also seeking to provide cultural enjoyment opportunities and expand grassroots sports by expanding cultural and sports infrastructure such as the construction of the Munye Damteo cultural center, repurposing closed schools into complex cultural spaces, building the Bandabi Sports Center, and constructing table tennis and dodgeball sports halls, as well as a baseball field.

Among various agricultural subsidy projects, the county plans to expand subsidy rates for projects with rates below 40%, aiming to implement agricultural administration that supports residents' livelihoods amid difficult economic conditions.

Governor Shim Min said, "2024 is an important period when the core projects of the 8th elected county administration to realize the era of Ten Million Tourists in Imsil will be completed. I hope that major pending projects will be pushed forward with speed." He added, "As we have done well so far, I ask all staff to unite and achieve visible results to contribute to regional development and improve residents' quality of life."