Yeongam County Shifts Toward a "City Where People Stay" Ahead of Expressway Era

Full-fledged living-area innovation linking tourism, consumption, and settlement

Sweet Potato Moonlight Festival at Dalmaji Park. Provided by Yeongam County

Yeongam County in South Jeolla Province is shifting the direction of its county administration toward becoming a "city where people stay," in order to respond to changes in its living area that will follow the opening of the Gwangju–Gangjin Expressway. The county is moving to fully implement a comprehensive strategy that links stays, consumption, and settlement.

According to the county, once the opening of the expressway shortens travel time from Gwangju to Yeongam to around 20 minutes, Yeongam’s accessibility will improve significantly for both weekends and everyday life. However, since improved accessibility does not automatically lead to revitalization of the local economy or an influx of population, transforming Yeongam from a "city people just pass through" into "a city that offers reasons to stay" has emerged as a key task.

In line with this, the county has designated 2026 as the year to strengthen the execution of stay-type tourism and living-area innovation, and plans to gradually implement its tourism and settlement strategy with the goal of designating 2027–2028 as the "Visit Yeongam Years." The core of the strategy is to design tourism as a single flow that connects "tourism–consumption–revisit–settlement."

With the opening of the Gwangju–Gangjin Expressway, three interchanges will be built in Yeongam: Geumjeong Interchange, Wolchulsan Interchange, and Dong-Yeongam Interchange. The county plans to develop these interchanges not merely as traffic access points but as gateways to the living area that connect tourism, commercial districts, and residential areas. Centered around each interchange, the county intends to link tourism routes with local commercial districts and living infrastructure to establish a structure that encourages visitors to extend their stay.

Gurim Hanok Stay exterior. Photo by Yeongam-gun

At the heart of the tourism strategy is the concept of an "ESC Tourism Hub City" that combines Ecology, Sports, and Culture. ESC is not an industry structure focused on individual events or facilities, but one designed to lengthen visitors’ stays so that they naturally lead to local spending. The strategy is to meet urban residents’ demand to escape their daily routines with Yeongam’s nature, sports, and cultural content, thereby creating a mutually beneficial tourism ecosystem.

The county is closely weaving together four-season tourism, night-time tourism, and course-based tourism content to expand visitor routes, and is designing tourism so that it leads to local consumption through stay-type promotions and marketing. Policy is focused less on the sheer number of tourists and more on creating a structure that encourages them to "stay one more day."

Expansion of the hardware that underpins stay-type tourism is proceeding in parallel. Through the Gurim Tourism Area Revitalization Project, vacant commercial buildings and other empty spaces are being remodeled and transformed into lodging hubs based on the "village hotel" concept, and a stay structure is being built that connects naturally with neighborhood commercial districts. In the Wolchulsan area, the county is developing forest wellness experience facilities, lodging at the Gichan Natural Recreation Forest, and accommodations for athletes, reorganizing the area into a zone where experiences, relaxation, and lodging are combined.

The county is also promoting a strategy to transform Wolchulsan from "a mountain you look at" into "a mountain where you stay." Through the "Wolchulsan Station F Project," which includes a gas balloon experience site and a four-season sledding slope, the county is expanding four-season stay-type content. By combining this with cultural content such as the Yeongam Trot Academy and the Ecological Artcation Lounge, the county aims to develop the area into a tourist destination that is vibrant both day and night.

Regeneration of aging tourist sites is being pursued as well. Through the renovation of the Mahan Cultural Park and the revitalization project for the Wangin Scholar Historic Site, existing tourist attractions are being refurbished and reorganized as hubs that encourage family stays and repeat visits.

Sea of clouds over Wolchulsan viewed from Deokjin green tea plantation. Provided by Yeongam County

Walking tourism is also an important pillar of the stay strategy. Centered on the Wolchulsan Dullegil Trail and the "365 Gi-Undam-gil Trail," the county is building long-stay walking content that connects all of Yeongam, while completing an ecotourism belt focused on healing and relaxation through the Daedongje Trail and the Dogapje Waterside Path.

Sports is another driving force behind stay-type tourism. By attracting nationwide and provincial-level competitions and off-season training camps, the county is creating a consumption structure in which athletes, their families, and officials stay for several days. To support this, it is also expanding accommodations for athletes, a second sports town, and everyday sports infrastructure.

The county is also strengthening its consumption strategy by combining food, neighborhood commercial districts, and night-time content. Around the Wangin Scholar Historic Site, dining spaces and content are being expanded, and through a vacant-store filling project and improvements to the Dokcheon Octopus Street, the county is fostering the area as a gourmet tourism destination that people want to revisit. By combining night-time moonlight content with cultural and artistic programs, the strategy is to create "Yeongam by Night" and thereby extend visitors’ length of stay.

The final destination of the changes envisioned by the county is settlement. To ensure that tourism and stays lead to settlement, the county is expanding various housing models, including public housing, public rental housing for young people, and co-prosperity-type rental housing for county residents. It is also reorganizing the centers of Yeongam-eup and Samho-eup into living hubs through vacant house maintenance and urban regeneration projects.

Yeongam County Governor Woo Seunghee said, "The expressway will shorten travel time to Yeongam, but the goal of the county administration is not to reduce travel time, but to increase the time people spend here," adding, "We will create a structure in which stays translate into local spending and lead to revisits and settlement, so that everyday life in Yeongam becomes even more fulfilling."

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