Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Seeks Key to Regional Balanced Development Through Cultural Tourism Festivals

June 16-17, 2023 Cultural Tourism Festival Conference
1,500 Local Government and Festival Industry Officials Attend
Discussion on Festival Issues Such as Overcharging and Environmental Pollution

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 16th that it will hold the '2023 Cultural Tourism Festival Conference' at the Maison Glad Jeju Convention Hall.

Yoon In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is delivering a greeting at the tourism strategy meeting held on the occasion of the '2023~2024 Visit Korea Year' at Sulwhasoo House in Bukchon, Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 13th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

At this academic conference, more than 150 experts from industry, academia, research, and government, including cultural tourism festival managers from 66 local governments and festival-dedicated organizations nationwide, will participate over two days.

The event will review the global development direction of our festivals and share opinions on the need to respond to crises faced by local festivals, such as overcharging and environmental pollution issues.

This year, a keynote speech will be delivered by an overseas festival expert. On the 16th, Sulada Sarutilavan, Director of the Chiang Mai Office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, will share the growth process, festival operation secrets, and successful promotion cases of Thailand's world-renowned 'Songkran Festival.' On the 17th, Yohei Yamamoto, CEO of Omatsuri Japan, a Japanese festival planning company, will present outstanding examples of Japanese festivals.

The 2nd Cultural Tourism Festival Conference
[Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]

Domestic expert presentations will also take place. Professor Lee Hoon of Hanyang University and Dr. Oh Hoonseong of the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute will continue with lectures and discussions on the theme of 'Crisis and Response Measures of Festival Content.' After the discussion, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to announce the designation and evaluation procedures for cultural tourism festivals for 2024?2025 and the newly promoted ‘Global Festival Development Project’ plan.

The Ministry supports competitive festivals designated as ‘Cultural Tourism Festivals’ among over 1,100 local festivals nationwide that have commercialized local specialties, traditional culture, and tourism resources as tourism products.

Minister Yoo In-chon stated, "Attractive festivals can become competitive tourism content representing the Republic of Korea beyond local regions and be loved by people worldwide," adding, "We will systematically support cultural tourism festivals to play a key role in regional balanced development achieved through culture."

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