Mayor Shim Kewon: "In the Era of High-Speed KTX, Full-Scale Expansion of Stay-Type Tourism Infrastructure"

Donghae-si Holds Final Report Meeting on Comprehensive Plan
Tourism Leap with "Emotional Tourism Belt for Five Key Zones"

On the 26th, Donghae-si in Gangwon-do held the final report meeting for the comprehensive tourism development plan project and reviewed tourism strategies and implementation plans for each zone.

Donghae-si is holding the final report meeting for the project to establish a Comprehensive Tourism Development Plan on the 26th. Provided by Donghae-si

At the meeting, a concept for an emotional cultural tourism belt was proposed to connect major tourist destinations in the five key zones into a single narrative and travel route. Strategies were also discussed to expand the achievements of revitalizing the Mukho area, including Mukho Port, Nongoldam-gil, and Dongho Bookstore Village, through linkage measures.

In his general commentary, Mayor Shim Kewon suggested that the recent preliminary feasibility approval for upgrading the KTX Donghae Line to high-speed service should be used as an opportunity to boost tourism by improving accessibility. He stressed that it is important to link accommodation, nighttime, and alleyway contents so that the increase in tourist inflow leads to longer stays and higher spending.

In particular, he emphasized further solidifying tourism development in the five key zones so that tourism infrastructure is directly connected to citizens' income, and promoting an impactful tourism development strategy in which the region's distinctive industrial resources and natural ecology, security-related history, and marine leisure tourism are organically linked.

This reaffirmed the need for a "tourism route design that leads to accommodation" that was presented at the interim report meeting.

The direction of strengthening experiential and empathy-based tourism contents that reflect the Feel-conomy concept from "Trend Korea 2026" was also highlighted. The Donghae-style Feel-conomy refers to a stay-type tourism economic model in which visitors directly walk through, stay in, and experience stories of nature, industry, alleyways, and local residents.

The core idea is a structure that connects movement, stay, and consumption between zones through an emotional cultural tourism belt that harmonizes mountains and the sea.

Based on the comprehensive tourism plan, Donghae-si plans to gradually expand stay-type tourism and accommodation infrastructure in connection with the high-speed transportation network.

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