GK:3.5.2 Tourism and Recreational Activities, Space, Industries, and Regional Festivals
Geography of Korea: III. Production and Consumer Space > 5. Service Industry and Tourism> 2) Tourism and Recreational Activities, Space, Industries, and Regional Festivals
2) Tourism and Recreational Activities, Space, Industries, and Regional Festivals
The public desire for leisure and tourism and recreation is a relatively recent phenomenon. In the more traditional past, the daily struggle to survive engendered an expression, “Even the pleasure of Mt. Geumgang must wait until after the meal” (in the Korean mind, the scenic wonders of Mt. Geumgang on the eastern coast were traditionally something one hoped to see one day). Korea’s international tourism industry has its origins in the years following the Korean War (1950–1953) in efforts to accommodate the many American soldiers who were stationed in South Korea as well as those on furlough from Japan. In 1960, South Korea became a designated destination for soldiers on R & R (rest and recuperation) from their home units, and in Seoul the exclusive Walker Hill Hotel was constructed from the exclusive use of foreigners. Following this, with the normalization of South Korea-Japan relations in 1965, the sudden influx of Japanese visitors brought revolutionary change to the country’s tourism industry. Until 1970 the nation’s international tourism industry geared towards foreigner visitors was one of the government’s major strategic industries and as such it supported the construction of many tourist hotels.
The South Korean domestic tourism industry really has its origins in the 1970s with the growth of household incomes and the construction of the Gyeongbu, Yeongdong, and Honam Expressways. With the expansion of the national road network and the increasing proliferation of private vehicles, different regions began to make efforts to develop and promote their native scenic areas and cultural assets in order to attract tourism. Particularly from 1995, with the restoration of autonomous local administration, regional governments became increasingly active in developing local tourism initiatives, supporting the establishment of a tourism infrastructure through the building of things like restaurants, souvenir shops, and lodging facilities in tourist areas, often at the cost of damage to the natural environment.
Korea has a wide variety of tourist attractions by region, to include national parks, UNESCO World Heritage sites, and regional festivals. A national park is a representative natural scenic area that a national government designates by law for protection and management. Among tourism sites, natural parks also attract large numbers of visitors. South Korea currently has twenty-one national parks, from its first, Mt. Jiri National Park designated in 1967, to its most recent, Mt. Mudeung National Park designated in 2012.
World Heritage status is conferred by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) on outstanding cultural or natural heritage sites worth of protection and preservation as part of the common heritage of humanity. In Korea, cultural UNESCO World Heritage sites include the storage halls (called the Gyeongpanjeon) for the Tripitaka Koreana at Haeinsa Temple, Jongmyo Shrine in Seoul, and Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple (designated in 1995); Changdeokgung Palace and Suwon’s Hwaseong Fortress (designated in 1997); the dolmens of Gochang, Hwasun, and Ganghwa Island and Gyeongju Historic Areas (designated in 2000); Joseon Royal Tombs (designated in 2009); and the folk villages of Hahoe in Andong and Yangdong in Gyeongju (designated in 2010). World Heritage sites in South Korea designated for their importance as natural sites include Jeju Volcanic Island and Yongam Lava Tubes (designated in 2007). There are eleven items of Korean cultural heritage included on the United Nation’s “Memory of the World” list, to include the Hunminjeongeum (“Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People,” a fifteenth-century text that first promulgated the Korean Hangeul alphabet) and the Joseon Wangjo Sillok (“Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty,” the vast historical record of Korea’s Joseon Dynasty), both designated in 1997, and the Jikji simche yojeol (a fourteenth-century Buddhist text recognized as the world’s first printed book) and Seungjeongwon ilgi (“Diaries of the Royal Secretariat,” a vast record of the activities of the Royal Secretariat spanning the Joseon Dynasty), both designated in 2001. There are sixteen items of Korean cultural heritage designated by UNESCO as “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity,” to include the Jongmyo Shrine ritual and ritual music, pansori (a traditional Korean form of musical storytelling), and the Gangneung Dano Festival (all so designated in 2008), and most recently, the tradition of kimchi making and sharing (designated in 2013).
Local festivals began to be actively promoted at the local level from latter half of the 1990s as the foundation for the development of independent and creative local culture and to increase returns on tourism. These regional festivals encompass the particular culture and industries as well as tourism characteristics of the given region and as of 2012 there were a total of 758 such festivals, to include 113 in Seoul, 85 in Gyeongsangnam-do province, 78 in Gangwon-do province, and 73 in Gyeonggi-do province. In terms of types of festivals, with the exception of those held in large metropolitan areas, many festivals are held in regional areas rich in cultural and tourism resources, such as Jeju City and Seogwipo on Jeju Island and Gangneung in Gangwon-do province.
Festivals can be categorized according to their objectives and defining characteristics into such types as culture and arts festivals, tourism or local products festivals, or traditional folk culture festivals. As its name implies, a tourism or local product festival aims to promote and sell local produce. Of Korea’s 758 regional festivals, the largest share (about 310) can be categorized as tourism or local products festivals, followed by culture and arts festivals (237). Many local festivals are held with the aim at promoting tourism and the specialty products of a small area within a county by seeing the area’s natural and tourism resources and sales of local products as vehicles for stimulating the local economy. On average, South Koreans will visit a local festival about two times per year. As the primary objectives for visiting such festivals visitors often cite reasons having little to do with the nature of the festival itself, such as “to get away from daily cares and recharge,” or “experience something new,” or to buy local products at reasonable prices. Thus, a local festival is a good means of promoting one’s own locality to the residents of another region, providing a good destination for a family outing, all while enhancing the local image and getting your region more widely known. This said, too many local festivals suffer from poor content and an over-commercialization of the locality while their programs fail to sufficiently differentiate or accentuate the uniqueness of the festival.
