2026 Inje Autumn Flower Festival wraps up, drawing more than 340,000 visitors as sales of local farm and specialty products top 1.1 billion won

【Financial News, Inje = Kim Gi-seop, staff writer】Local agricultural and specialty products sold at the Inje Autumn Flower Festival market topped 1.1 billion won, nearly doubling in value in just one year.
According to Inje County on the 19th, a total of 346,759 people visited the 2026 Inje Autumn Flower Festival, held from the 24th of last month through the 18th in and around Yongdae Tourist Site in Buk-myeon. For the second straight year, visitor numbers exceeded 300,000, cementing its place as Inje’s signature autumn tourism festival. Originally scheduled to run through the 11th, the festival was extended by a week as the fall flowers reached their peak and visitors continued to arrive. During the extension, it continued to welcome tourists seeking the atmosphere of late autumn, with flower gardens, a local farm and specialty products market, a forest café and other attractions in operation.
A string of holiday periods was the biggest driver of the festival’s success. A total of 223,158 people flocked to the festival grounds during the three holiday periods alone—82,890 over the Chuseok holiday, 71,642 over the National Foundation Day holiday and 68,626 over the Hangeul Day holiday—accounting for about 64% of all visitors. Family outings were especially common.
The festival grounds, designed around the theme “Walk only flower paths in Inje,” featured large gardens of colorful autumn flowers, including chrysanthemums, gujeolcho and verbena, set against the fall foliage of Naeseorak. The Park In-hwan Romantic Garden, created to mark the 100th anniversary of the poet’s birth, drew visitors’ interest as a distinctive space combining flowers and literature.
The increase in tourist numbers translated directly into income for local farmers. Cumulative sales of local agricultural and specialty products and chrysanthemums at the festival’s Wellbeing Market totaled approximately 1.135 billion won, up 535 million won—or 89%—from 600 million won the previous year. During busy periods, the county used drones to monitor traffic in real time on major access roads and around parking lots, using the information to manage traffic on site and ease congestion.
“Content that brings literature to flowers, such as the Park In-hwan Romantic Garden, along with the decision to extend operations by a week, helped draw more than 340,000 visitors,” said Kim Jeong-su, head of the festival team at the Inje County Cultural Foundation. “With sales at the Wellbeing Market nearly doubling in a year, we will continue to develop new content that makes the most of Naeseorak’s natural environment so that the festival’s success translates into income for farmers and merchants.”

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter