A view of the “Jungmun Golf Course Moon Light Walk” designed to attract tourists to Jeju Island.

Manager Park Young-kyu of the Jeju Branch of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said the late President Park Chung-hee designated the Jungmun Tourism Resort in 1970s after inspecting the site himself during a visit to the island in line with the then-government policy to develop the tourism industry on the island.

Ever since the designation, the tourism complex has made strides to be developed as a leading tourist site on the island. Since its designation in May, 2012, the Jungmun Golf Course Moon Light Walk has been attracting a great number of tourists, both domestic and foreign, to Jungmun to make the nightly event one of the most well-known tourist events on the exotic island.

To take the advantage of the popular event, the KTO Jeju Branch kicked off its tourist program, “the 2016 Spring Time Spring Travel Week Special Event,” from May to the end of November. On the second and fourth Fridays of every month during the period, the Jungmun Golf Course Moon Light Walk will take place, as well as a sailing event to Mara Island off the coast of Jungmun, where tourists can take photos of the sea and the beach areas during the sunset. On the 15th hole of the golf course in Jungmun, visitors can enjoy a number of events including the reading of poems, a musical concert, and balloon flying.

It takes about an hour and half to finish the 3km walk along the beautiful beach. All those who want to participate in the program can do so by calling 02-1688-5404 or through (www.jungmunresort.com).

Manager Chung, who is a former Public Relations manager for KTO, said he plans to see that the nightly Moon Walk program will be further developed as a natural mind-healing program for both domestic and foreign tourists so that the event will grow as a representative nightly tourist program on Jeju Island.

The KTO Jeju Branch also has been running the “Tour to Find Myself Seoguipo Healing Tour” program since the spring to spread the demand for tourism around Korea and spur the national economic growth at the same time.

The 2016 Weekly Autumn Travel Event will be run jointly with the government of the Jeju Special Governing Province, the Jeju Tourism Organization and the Jeju Tourism Association, featuring the special touristic commodities indigenous to the island as a diverse family-friendly experience program.

Special events featured in the weekly tourist program include “Find Star GEO Brand Commodities of Korean Tourism,” made up of popular tourism events such a visit to the Jeongbang Waterfall in Seoguipo, the Lee Jung-seop Fine Arts Hall, the SeoBok Exhibition Hall, Waljong Fine Arts Museum, Cheonjiyon Water Fall, the Soam Memorial Hall, and Seojinseong, among others, to visit three of the famous tourist attractions in Seoguipo. The tourists who got certifications of their visits to those places will be given the option of picking one of the Persimmons and Tangerines Marmalade produced on the island and a healing food as a prize.

The evening tourism events began with the theme, “Do You know Seoguipo? And the Blue Night of Jeju” with the Jungmun Golf Course Moon Light Walk and a concert on a special stage on the Seomyun Bridge over Cheonji Lake, a UNESCO designated Global Geopark with the theme of “Love Healing Concert,” and other cultural events to provide a special entertainment for tourists visiting Jeju Island, especially those visiting Seoguipo, so that they can see as well as feel them physically.

A view of an event of flying lantern balloons carrying messages of hope. (Photos: KTO)