Pohang City Aims to Become a MICE Hub by Attracting High-Impact International Events: Quality Over Quantity

Pohang City is taking proactive measures to attract substantial international events linked to regional specialized industries, rather than relying solely on a quantitative approach, ahead of the opening of the Pohang International Exhibition & Convention Center (hereinafter POEX) in 2027.

On the 29th, the city held the "International Event Discovery Report Meeting" in the large conference room of the city hall, chaired by Acting Mayor Jang Sanggil and attended by relevant bureau chiefs and department heads, to intensively review department-specific attraction strategies.

On the 29th, Pohang City held an 'International Event Identification Report Meeting' in the main conference room of the city hall to thoroughly review the attraction strategy. Provided by Pohang City

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At the meeting, the city presented "discovering industry-linked MICE events" and "selection based on feasibility" as its core directions.

In particular, the city clearly emphasized a shift from simple quantitative growth to a focus on the effectiveness and outcomes of attracting events.

Based on its experience in successfully attracting large-scale international events such as the ICLEI World Congress, the city plans to continue focusing on generating tangible results, using this report meeting as an opportunity.

Acting Mayor Jang Sanggil stated, "It is a highly meaningful achievement that each department has come up with various international event ideas linked to local industries. In particular, the effort to connect these to Pohang's key industrial foundations, such as steel, secondary batteries, and hydrogen, is a direction we need to further expand in the future."

He added, "When it comes to international conferences, it is more important to attract the right ones rather than simply increasing the number. We need to focus on selecting conferences that are realistically feasible to host and can lead to tangible results for the region."

To this end, he ordered a focused discovery of practical candidates based on specific criteria, including ▲ whether there are academic or institutional networks, ▲ the decision-making structure and schedule for selecting the host city, and ▲ the capacity of Pohang City's infrastructure to accommodate the event.

Lee Sanghyun, Head of the Tourism & Convention City Promotion Headquarters, who attended the meeting, said, "With the opening of POEX approaching, differentiated results are needed at this stage. For this, the continued interest and cooperation of all departments are essential," and requested active cooperation from each department in discovering suitable conferences.

Meanwhile, Pohang City announced its plan to systematically discover and manage high-value-added MICE events linked to key regional industries in line with the opening of POEX, actively pursuing its transition into a 'stay-type MICE city.'

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