130,000 Visitors Flock to Pohang Over Lunar New Year...Further Cementing Its Status as a Stay-Over Tourist City

Major attractions come alive over the five-day Lunar New Year break... family-friendly hands-on programs draw strong response
Lodging discount promotions and K-drama filming location events successfully boost longer-stay tourism

Nearly 130,000 visitors came to Pohang during the Lunar New Year holiday, filling local tourist attractions and neighborhood commercial districts with vitality.

According to Pohang City, during the five-day Lunar New Year holiday from February 14 to 18, nearly 130,000 visitors came to Pohang's major tourist destinations. Guryongpo Japanese House Street, Spacewalk, Igari Anchor Observatory, Janggi Eupseong Fortress, Marine Skywalk, and the botanical garden in Hwanho Park were packed with family visitors.

Visitors to Spacewalk in Pohang during the Lunar New Year holiday. Provided by Pohang City

During the holiday, the city operated major tourist attractions such as Spacewalk, Marine Skywalk, and the Homigot New Millennium Memorial Hall as usual, along with tourist information centers and tour guide services, and offered various benefits including one hour of free parking at public parking lots, earning positive reviews from visitors.

In particular, starting on January 31, the city promoted a lodging discount campaign in collaboration with private travel platforms such as NOL (formerly Yanolja) and Yeogi Eottae, offering a 20,000 won discount on rooms priced at 50,000 won or more and a 40,000 won discount on rooms priced at 100,000 won or more, in order to encourage longer-stay tourism.

In addition, riding the popularity of K-drama Hallyu, the city introduced participatory tourism content to build on the fame of the filming locations of "When the Camellia Blooms" and "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha." This year, it is running a photo certification event at filming locations such as Igari Anchor Observatory and Songdo Beach, which are key locations for the fully-on-location Pohang drama "Spring Fever."

To mark the Year of the Red Horse, a "Red Horse Wish Note" writing event was held at the Yeonorang Seonyeo Theme Park, while the National Lighthouse Museum drew great response by offering a variety of programs through its "The Lunar New Year Has Come (Horse)" event, including making traditional kite keyrings and lighthouse crafting experiences.

Meanwhile, during the five-day Lunar New Year holiday, Pohang City operated an emergency response team for the tourism sector and focused on ensuring safety throughout the holiday by conducting safety inspections of major tourist attractions and tourism businesses.

Civil servants, cultural tourism commentators, and tourism volunteers carried out on-site promotional activities targeting returning residents and visitors at major tourist sites, and also worked to foster a pleasant and safe holiday atmosphere.

Jang Sanggil, acting mayor of Pohang, said, "With a variety of events and benefits related to accommodation and culture, Pohang is establishing itself as a destination that people want to visit again," adding, "We will continue to expand attractive tourism content and infrastructure so that Pohang can become a city where visitors want to stay longer."

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