A charming night view of Bomunjeong in Gyeongju, adored with cherry blossoms.

Dir. Gen. Kim Sang-cheol of the Culture, Tourism and Sports at the Gyeongsangbuk-do Provincial Government.

A series of tourist videos on the tourism industry of Gyeongsangbuk-do, produced by the provincial government and GCTO in collaboration with hallyu superstar Han Seung-yeon, went viral with 450,000 SNS views amid hard times, caused by the pandemic, with a lack of inbound tourists.

The six-part Gyeongbuk Travel V-LOG Videos, in which Kim Seung-yeon, a former member of the girl group KARA appeared, attracted 240,000 YouTube hits in cumulative view and 210,000 Instagram hits.

The first video covered Gyeongju, Pohang and Yeongdeok while the second one introduced hotspots and district theme tourist sites and representative foods in Andong and Mungyeong.

The videos can be watched in four language subtitles via Han’s personal YouTube channel and GCTO’s official YouTube channel.

The videos carried comments, such as “This is gonna be in my itinerary for net trip to Korea.” They played a part as a healing tourist content for foreigners whose travels had been blocked by the pandemic and as well indicated a potential of future would-be tourists coming to the province.

Hallyu superstar Han Seung-yeon appears on one of a series of tourist videos on the tourism industry of Gyeongsangbuk-do, which went viral. (Photos: GCTO)

Han’s videos, cited as an exemplary publication of the Gyeongju area by Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), have been credited with contributing to raising the tourism standing of the province.

Besides, GCTO logged more than 8.6 million views through digital marketing activities via diversified channels such as YouTube, mobile and OTA despite difficulties in on-site face-to-face publicity activities, caused by the pandemic.

Gyeongsangbuk-do officer said, “We’ll devote ourselves in conducting effective marketing activities so that Gyeongbuk’s sagging tourism market can be revived by employing multi-faceted on-line marketing to cope with the pandemic era.”

A panoramic view of Yeongdeok’s breath-taking Haeparanggil Blue Road B Course, a must-see hotspot for joggers across the nation.

Gyeongbuk’s 3 Cultural Regions Establish Experience & Tourism Sites

Gyeongsangbuk-do plans to offer regular experience tourism products at four popular locations in three cultural regions, including Rev. Samyeong Park in Gimcheon.

The move is part of the “Hi Story Gyeongbuk” initiative, a major task of promoting the tourism industry in three regions. It is a departure from a strategy of attracting tourists via marketing activities sans the supply of content.

Experience tourist products, such as differentiated travel experiences via traditional Korean content, mobile-based outdoor mission games target diverse generations, ranging from millennials and Generation Z to small family groups by connecting the tourist sites of the three cultural regions and local tourist resources.

On top of matching competitive tourist businesses and three cultural sites, departing from the public entry-oriented market survey and supply, diverse, more personalized, domestic travel trends, such as safety- and experience-oriented travel in the post-COVID-19 pandemic have been reflected in the domestic travel industry in real time.

These are designed to develop Gyeongbuk’s new tourist spots and receive a greater reception from a wide range of tourist groups, thus spurring the tourist industry and the regional economy.

Rev. Samyeong Park in Gimcheon is to be repositioned as a tourist spot of experiences and healing from daytime to nighttime with participation on the part of Hanboknam, a legend of traditional Korean hanok villages and costume hanbok experiences.

The park will be a new game site for millennials and Generation Z, prioritizing their specialized experiences by offering traditional Korean content such as hanbok experience, travel snaps, hanok experiences and night tours.

It is expected to inject fresh vigor into the regional businesses by reinvigorating the tourist region, encompassing the park, Jikji Temple and Porcelain Museum.

The Seonseonghyeon Cultural Complex in Andong, emerging as a tourist hotspot in the northern part of the province, plans to operate a mobile-enabled outdoor mission game.

A web-based game, called “I’m a Public Official of Joseon,” based on the theme of the cultural complex and the reproduction of an ancient government office will be an unusual experience tourist product, a combination of the storytelling of the cultural complex and activities.

The release of additional tourist products to cover the Andong Dosan area such as Yekki Village: Andong Lake Nature Forest and Gyesang Gotaek (Ancient Houses) is under consideration.

Ecorala in Mugyeong will offer game-based experience tourist content by interpreting space as a game element under the theme “Miner Father’s Bag” while the Samgang Cultural Complex in Yecheon will operate the a program to make Samgangjumak, Gyeongbuk’s folklore property No. 134, as its main content.

Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo said, “The private sector-initiated approach of matching excellent tourist businesses and ideas, departing from the public sector-oriented supply of tourist products will reinvigorate tourist sites in the three cultural regions and explore new markets of the sagging tourism industry, buffeted by the pandemic, and Gyeongbuk’s travel based on clean and healing, coupled with new content will be a regional travel model designed to promote share growth.”