Jeonnam Province Gains Spotlight as a Sports Sanctuary... 952 Teams Visited Over 2 Winter Months

Jeonnam Province is emerging as a sports sanctuary.

According to the province on the 21st, from December last year to January this year, a total of 952 teams and 240,000 athletes in total visited Jeonnam for training camps and various sports competitions, according to interim statistics. The resulting economic ripple effect on the region amounts to 22.7 billion KRW.

While training athletes and their families stay in Jeonnam, they visit restaurants, accommodations, marts, and tourist attractions, creating an influx of residents during the winter off-season and revitalizing the local economy.

During the winter period from December to February, the number of visitors rose sharply from just 60,000 in the 2020?2021 season to 180,000 in the 2021?2022 season, and 340,000 in the 2022?2023 season. Notably, this year has already surpassed the pre-COVID-19 level of 250,000 visitors in the 2019?2020 season.

This success is attributed to Jeonnam’s abundant tourism resources, mild winter climate, and delicious Namdo cuisine.

In fact, Jeonnam boasts excellent sports facilities such as Mokpo Sports Complex, Suncheon Palma Sports Complex, Gwangyang Jeonnam Dragons Stadium, Gangjin Football Stadium, Haenam Useul Stadium, and Yeonggwang Sportium. Additionally, by hosting the National Sports Festival last year, the province invested a total of 214.9 billion KRW in extensive new construction and renovations of local sports facilities.

This year, the province plans to select cities and counties with outstanding hosting records to provide incentives for sports facility renovations and will actively engage in marketing in cooperation with local governments to build optimal sports infrastructure.

Local governments are also busy operating various support programs utilizing regional resources to attract winter training camps.

Jangheung County has attracted 30 youth soccer teams, totaling about 7,000 athletes. They provided 2 million KRW in local gift certificates as training expenses to teams with more than 15 members and assigned dedicated helpers to each team to minimize inconveniences during their stay.

Gwangyang City plans to host 174 teams across six sports?including table tennis, soccer, athletics, baseball, swimming, and taekwondo?with a total of about 36,000 athletes, starting with the 13th Winter Training Team Table Tennis Stove League.

Haenam County has attracted 46 teams in six sports such as soccer, athletics, and baseball, totaling about 13,000 athletes. They invited Takashi Komatsu, a professional coach for the Japanese junior national team, to provide technical guidance to athletics candidates and operate a winter training rehabilitation center staffed with five professional trainers.

Wando County plans to attract 32 teams in five sports including badminton and soccer, totaling about 12,000 athletes. They offer healing therapies such as underwater exercise and hydrotherapy massage using the Marine Healing Center opened last year.

Additionally, various incentives such as discounts or waivers on sports facility usage fees, training expense support, and tourism experience programs are provided by each city and county.

Joo Soon-seon, Director of Tourism and Sports at Jeonnam Province, said, “Following the successful hosting of the 104th National Sports Festival last year, Jeonnam has established itself as a global tourism and sports city. We expect even more training teams to visit Jeonnam this year,” adding, “We will intensify efforts to attract training camps, which greatly invigorate the local economy and effectively promote sports tourism.”

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