“From the capital region, where foreign tourists are concentrated, to the East Coast”... Gangwon State launches Yangyang Airport tourism zone

【Financial News, Yangyang = Kim Gi-seop, staff reporter】Gangwon State has launched a full-scale project to bring Gangneung, Sokcho and Yangyang together as one tourism zone, with Yangyang International Airport serving as the gateway, in an effort to change a situation in which at least 80% of foreign tourists are concentrated in the capital region.
On the 27th, Gangwon State said it had formed a tourism-zone consultative body involving Gangneung, Sokcho City and Yangyang County and begun detailing next year’s projects. The initiative is part of a Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism program to establish tourism zones centered on regional airports from next year through 2030. It aims to enable inbound tourists to enter the country directly through five regional airports—Yangyang, Gimhae, Daegu, Cheongju and Muan—and visit the surrounding areas. For the first year of the project, next year, an investment of 16.9 billion won in the Yangyang Airport tourism zone is under consideration, including 12.2 billion won in national government funding and 4.7 billion won in local government funding.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will provide comprehensive support for nine projects in each tourism zone: building an integrated brand, overseas promotion, attracting foreign tourists through regional airports, boosting tourism at cruise ports of call, improving transport convenience and connections, making local payments more convenient, developing specialized tourism content, promoting Hallyu tourism and boosting the K-Food Road. Of these, six projects—including the integrated brand, overseas promotion and improved payment convenience—will be carried out directly by the Korea Tourism Organization, limiting the role of local governments. Gangwon State is therefore refining plans with a focus on the three projects where it can more readily reflect local views: improving transport convenience and connections, developing and promoting specialized tourism content, and promoting Hallyu tourism.
Gangwon State plans to attend the second local meeting on the five tourism zones centered on regional airports, hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Sejong City on the 29th, and discuss the direction of next year’s projects. Based on the meeting’s outcome, it plans to work with cities and counties to develop specific measures to make travel within the tourism zone more convenient and strengthen content that encourages longer stays.
Son Chang-hwan, head of Gangwon State’s Global Headquarters, said, “We will closely link transport, content and Hallyu tourism so that foreign visitors arriving directly at Yangyang Airport without passing through Incheon Airport can travel conveniently between Gangneung, Sokcho and Yangyang and stay there. We will redirect the flow of inbound tourists concentrated in the capital region toward the East Coast and make this an opportunity for Gangwon tourism to take a leap forward.”

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter