Imsil N Cheese Festival Selected as a 'Cultural Tourism Festival' for 8 Consecutive Years

Published 20 Dec.2023 13:53(KST)

The Imsil N Cheese Festival, the representative festival of Imsil-gun, Jeonbuk, has been honored by being selected as a Cultural Tourism Festival for the eighth consecutive year.

According to the county on the 20th, the Cultural Tourism Festival is a festival recognized for excellence by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) among more than 1,200 local festivals nationwide that utilize tourism resources, local specialties, and traditional culture.

The Imsil N Cheese Festival, the representative festival of Imsil County, has been honored by being selected as a Cultural Tourism Festival for eight consecutive years.
[Photo by Imsil County]

The county announced that the Imsil N Cheese Festival was selected as a Cultural Tourism Festival for 2024-2025 designated by the Ministry and will receive 80 million KRW in national funding support.

Additionally, it will be allowed to use the Cultural Tourism Festival title and receive support for festival content development and promotional marketing.

On the 19th, the Ministry officially announced the final selection of 25 representative festivals nationwide, including the Imsil N Cheese Festival, as Cultural Tourism Festivals for 2024-2025.

This evaluation was based on expert written and on-site assessments conducted throughout the year, combined with tourist awareness and satisfaction, as well as local residents' support and response.

Accordingly, the Imsil N Cheese Festival, held for the ninth time this year, has been selected as a Cultural Tourism Festival for eight consecutive years following its designations as a Promising Cultural Tourism Festival in 2018, an Excellent Cultural Tourism Festival in 2019, and a Cultural Tourism Festival from 2020 to 2023.

Held from October 6 to 9 over four days at Imsil Cheese Theme Park, Imsil Cheese Village, and the Imsil-eup area, the Imsil N Cheese Festival focused on increasing local residents' involvement from the program planning stage.

With local social organizations and residents participating in the programs, they played a major role in the festival's great success.

Moreover, by inviting the family of Father Ji Jeonghwan’s homeland, Belgium, and operating Belgian Day with large-scale Belgian waffle making, the festival received great response and popularity from tourists.

Through a stamp tour planned to highlight Father Ji Jeonghwan’s footsteps and the history of Imsil N Cheese, many visitors were led to visit the Imsil Traditional Market, Imsil Cathedral, the first cheese aging cave, and other areas of Imsil-eup, contributing to the revitalization of the local economy.

In particular, over ten million chrysanthemums were exhibited around the Imsil Cheese Theme Park, and along with the Cheese History and Culture Hall, photo zones, shade tents, and nightscape lighting, tourists’ satisfaction was significantly enhanced.

As a result, about 560,000 people visited during the four-day festival period, achieving sales of over 1.6 billion KRW.

The county is actively working to address any shortcomings or deficiencies from this year’s festival and is moving swiftly to prepare for a rich and successful 10th Imsil N Cheese Festival, scheduled from October 3 to October 6, 2024.

County Governor Shim Min said, “The Imsil N Cheese Festival has been honored to be selected as a Cultural Tourism Festival for eight consecutive years thanks to the active participation of local residents,” adding, “We will strive to have residents actively participate as the main protagonists of next year’s festival and to present many new and differentiated programs.”