The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 17th that they have finalized the selection of 10 'potential small tourism destinations' for 2025. Potential small tourism destinations are areas with low awareness but high growth potential for future regional tourism, a project that has been jointly promoted by the Tourism Organization and local governments since 2019.
The newly selected locations this year are ▲Gimpo Maritime Park (Gyeonggi Gimpo City) ▲Rainbow Healing Tourism Site (North Chungcheong Province Yeongdong County) ▲Myeoncheon Fortress (South Chungcheong Province Dangjin City) ▲Sanisan Garden (South Jeolla Province Haenam County) ▲Sunchang Fermentation Theme Park (North Jeolla Province Sunchang County) ▲Ottgol Village (Daegu Dong District) ▲Hyengseong Lakeside Trail Section 5 (Gangwon Hyengseong County). Additionally, among the potential small tourism destinations for 2024, ▲Dadaepo Beach Park (Busan Sahagu) ▲Mujinjeong (South Gyeongsang Province Ham-an County) ▲Seongan Olle (Jeju City) were selected again as continued support sites for 2025.
The Korea Tourism Organization will analyze the status of potential small tourism destinations using big data and provide customized consulting. They will also support promotional marketing by linking with domestic tourism campaigns such as 'Traveling Month' and 'Digital Tourism Resident Card' being promoted by the organization, and will focus on attracting foreign tourists through its overseas offices by highlighting the strengths of localized content.
The 'Namwon City Kim Byung-jong Art Museum', selected last year, has showcased various promotions by developing tourism products such as Namwon Stay and three-color local art tours in conjunction with the Korea Tourism Organization's 'Digital Tourism Resident Card' project, resulting in an increase of more than 2.2 times the number of visitors compared to 2023. Additionally, 'Mujinjeong' in South Gyeongsang Province's Ham-an County has nearly doubled the number of tourists compared to the previous year by regularly commercializing 'Falling Flower Play', and has also attracted a group of 400 Japanese tourists, a first for Ham-an County.
Lee Sang-min, head of the Korea Tourism Organization's National Tourism Office, noted, 'There are many hidden gems that are not yet well known. The organization will spare no efforts in various support to unearth the unique tourism resources that only that area has, enabling them to become representative local content of Korea.'