Pohang City Surpasses 7.5 Million Tourists Last Year! Record Highest Number of Visitors Ever Recorded

Spacewalk, Drama Filming Locations, and Other Pohang Attractions Drive Increase in Tourists

On the 2023 year, Pohang City announced that the number of tourists visiting Pohang reached 7,595,029.

This is an increase of about 1.31 million compared to 6,284,929 in 2022, marking a 21% rise year-on-year.

The tourist statistics were surveyed based on ticket sales data from 22 major tourist spots in Pohang, including Space Walk, as well as data from unmanned measuring devices.

Last year, Pohang Space Walk received the Star of Korean Tourism award and is taking a commemorative photo.

The number of tourists visiting Pohang first surpassed 7 million in 2019, the ‘Year of Visiting Pohang,’ but declined due to the impact of COVID-19. However, as the suppressed travel atmosphere revived, new tourist site developments and continuous exposure of Pohang tourist spots through dramas, variety shows, and other broadcast programs led to a significant increase in visitors, resulting in a record high number of visitors last year.

Reflecting this trend, the volume of SNS mentions about Pohang also increased by 51% year-on-year according to data from the Korea Tourism Organization’s Data Lab.

Space Walk, which has become a new landmark of Pohang, has attracted over 2 million visitors within 23 months since its opening in November 2021, establishing itself as an essential travel course for domestic and international tourists and greatly contributing to attracting visitors.

Additionally, last year, Space Walk was selected in the new tourism resources category of the ‘2023 Korea Tourism Star,’ as well as in the ‘100 Nightscapes of Korea’ and ‘Top 100 Korean Tourism’ lists, raising expectations that even more tourists will visit Space Walk in the future.

Drama filming locations set in Pohang have also significantly contributed to the increase in visitors. Many domestic and international tourists visit Guryongpo-eup from ‘When the Camellia Blooms,’ Cheongha-myeon from ‘Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha,’ and the downtown area (including Cheolgil Forest and Yeongildae Rose Garden) from ‘This Romance is Uncontrollable.’

Mayor Lee Kang-deok said, “Pohang City is striving to attract tourists through differentiated local festivals such as the Pohang International Fireworks Festival and Pohang Cheolgil Forest Night Festival, developing travel programs tailored to tourism trends, and operating Pohang Tourism Taxis.” He added, “We will work hard to promote Pohang’s charm as a tourist city through the development of diverse tourism resources and active promotional marketing so that many tourists visit and are satisfied with Pohang.”

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