Unesco-Designated
Dano Festival Likely
to Boost Tourism

Gangwon Province strives to explore ecological & environmental aspects of the DMZ & rich indigenous resources into tourist products

The Gangwon provincial government plans to extend support to Unesco-designated Dano Festival in a move to upgrade the regional folklore fest into a global one.
Hong Ki-eup, director general of the Environment, Tourism and Culture at the Gangwon provincial government, said, "Unesco's listing the Dano Festival has become an occasion to demonstrate the superiority of Korean culture as well as the image of the province and Gangneung to 200 Unesco member states and people around the world. In particular, it is expected to upgrade Gangneung, the home of decades-long history of tradition, into a global city of intangible property and tourist destination, thus bring about a boost in tourist revenues and the recovery of the regional economy."The festival has become the third to be put on the Unesco list of intangible properties following Jongmyo Jereak, a royal ancestral ceremony music, and pansori, a traditional Korean narrative opera.
The provincial and municipal governments will earmark 197.7 billion won by 2011 to implement 57 projects designed to develop Gangneung as a pilot city of tradition and culture, Lee said in a written interview with NewsWorld.
Director-General Lee said Gangwon Province is striving to develop its own unique, attractive tourism products by capitalizing on a bountiful of maritime, mountainous, rivers, traditional culture, leisure and sports features. In particular, the provincial government is intent on the development of such tourist resources related to the ecological and environmental aspects of the province, divided by the Demilitarized Zone, the last vestige of the Cold War. The following are the excerpts of his interview.
Question: What is the significance of Unesco's putting the Dano Festival in Gangneung as one of the Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and what steps are in place to preserve and promote the intangible cultural property?
Answer: The Dano Festival in Gangneung, Intangible Cultural Property No. 13, has been inherited as a regional cultural event indigenous to Gangneung, the home of Indian ink.
The festival was recognized as one of the Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on December 25, 2005, serving as an opportunity to publicize the identity of Gangwon Province to the world and raise Korea's profile.
The Dano Festival is the third put on the Unesco list of intangible properties following Jongmyo Jereak, a royal ancestral ceremony music, and pansori, a traditional Korean narrative opera. States and regions put on the Unesco list are now entitled to expert consulting and a given amount of cultivation funds from Unesco and the central government of the relevant country.
Unesco's listing the Dano Festival has become an occasion to demonstrate the superiority of Korean culture as well as the image of the province and Gangneung to 200 Unesco member states and people around the world. In particular, it is expected to upgrade Gangneung, the home of decades-long history of tradition, into a global city of intangible property and tourist destination, thus brings about a boost in tourist revenues and the recovery of the regional economy.
With respect to the preservation and promotion of the Dano Festival, the Gangwon provincial and Gangneung municipal governments have strived to elevate the festival to Unesco's cultural heritage.
To this end, they constructed the Gangneung Dano Town at a cost of 10.5 billion won in 2003 and held Gangneung International Folklore 2004 that attracted about 30 performance troupes from 21 countries.
Experts gathered for a workshop in 2005, designed to publicize the cultural value and superiority of the Dano Festival. The government spent 1 billion won to support four study halls for the preservation and cultivation of four traditional plays - the Dano Festival, Gangneung Nongak in Gangneung, Haksan Odokttegi and Sacheon Hapyeongdapgyonori.
The provincial and municipal governments will earmark 197.7 billion won by 2011 to implement 57 projects designed to develop Gangneung as a pilot tradition and culture city.
I understand that based on these projects, it is more important to impress the identity of the province on people across the globe and continue to utilize the excellent tourist resource as a means of enhancing regional income.
The preservation and promotion of tradition and culture will take the form of residents'initiative, not the provincial government's lead. State and provincial governments will secure funds for supporting intangible cultural property artisans and inheritance instructors to ensure continuous preservation of its originality and management.
Besides, the Gangwon provincial government plans to set up the Gangneung Folklore Institute and "World Children" Traditional Play Culture Hall's as part of its efforts to complement infrastructure so that the values of rare cultural properties can be maintained.
It also plans to publish a journal on the festival, expand regular exchanges with Unesco member states while making efforts to develop package tour products linking up with other neighborhood tourist spots and cultural resources.


Q: Will you elaborate on strategies to attract tourists from Southeast Asian countries for winter ski tour packages?
A: Winter snow and skiing experience tour packages have become the province's greatest asset with the highest added value. The provincial government is devising differential publicity and unique strategies designed to lure tourists from Southeast Asia and foreigners of Chinese ancestry as they favor Gangwon Province with a better environment and conditions than any region across the nation. Under the strategies, it sponsored 61 familiarization tours inviting a total of 650 media people and tourist officials from 22 countries during 2005.
On top of the familiarization tours being held during 2006, the province will turn to Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) in a bid to spread hallyu, or "Korea Wave"and establish Southeast Asia as the biggest bridgehead for promoting the local tourism industry. IMC is a management concept aimed at making all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and directing complement each other as a unified force, rather than on their own in a separate way. The provincial government plans to expand publicity activities through media outlets and "tourism public relations ambassadors"to America and Europe as well as Southeast Asia in order to highlight the prominence and tradition of the province' tourist attractions and make foreigners'frequent visits to the province part of their life.
It will offer familiarization tours on couple packages in March, taekkwondo, Korea's martial art, & temple stay in May, and winter events in November for inbound visitors from Southeast Asia, Americas and Europe; outing products in February, tours to Mt. Geumgang-san and students'excursions in August and cruise tours for Japanese tourists; and leisure/sporting plus casino tour courses in March and incentive tours for companies in October for foreigners of Chinese ancestry.
The provincial government will hold a tour explanation tour for travel agencies in Seoul, Busan and Jeju specializing in inbound tourists while taking steps to invigorate Yangyang International Airport.
It will concentrate publicity activities on tourist resources as locations of famous films and dramas, attractive fall foliage, honeymoon trips, students'excursions and winter skiing products tailored to meet the needs of tourists from Japan, the Chinese economic sphere and Southeast Asian region.
Q: Will you tell our readers about your provincial government's strategies to attract foreign tourists by capitalizing on the "hallyu"fever sweeping Asia?
A: The provincial government is seeking an aggressive marketing blitz by cashing in on the hallyu locations of such popular TV drama and film as "Winter Sonata"and "April Snow"to make the province a magnet for attracting foreign tourists.
It plans to promote diverse events of Korean signers, entertainers and other hallyu superstars, designed to induce more foreign visitors. The Gangwon provincial government will hold special tour programs for promoting the hallyu drama locations during the period between February and December under collaboration networks with relevant city, country authorities and travel agencies as part of its efforts to target tourists from the Chinese economic sphere, Southeast Asia and Japan. The Gangwon Drama Gallery that will display memorabilia on the locations of "Winter Sonata"in Chuncheon and "April Snow"in Samcheok will be opened to the public in March. It is pushing a plan to offer accommodation tour courses linking the upcoming drama gallery and Nami Islet and the lake tourist belt. Tourist amenity facilities and signboards will be refurbished in the interests of foreign tourists visiting such hallyu locations as Nami Islet in Chuncheon, Jukseolu Pavilion in Samcheok and Dongmakgol, the location of the latest hit film "Welcome to Dongmakgol."Q: Can you explain the plans to develop the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into ecological and tourist resources?
There is now the need for developing the reality of the division of the Korean Peninsula since 1945, the lingering last vestige of the Cold War, fraught with ideological conflicts, into tourist products. The provincial government is putting more energy into the development of ecology-related tour programs designed to ensure the eco-friendly harmony of preservation and development and raise revenues from the tourism sector with the goal of making the province the one with better living conditions and destination of tours related to reunification.
Among the major projects concerning the development of the province' ecological aspects are the "DMZ Peace Village"in the Myeongpa-ri area in Hyeonnae-myeon, Goseong-gun and the multi-purpose "DMZ Museum"projects in the Myeongho-Songheon-ni area, Hyeonnae-myeon. The DMZ Pace Village project calls for the construction of a 299,000 sq. meter inter-Korean exchange town for reunions of estranged South and North Koreans between 2006 and 2010 at a cost of 10.2 billion won. The planned village, to be furnished with a club house and parking lots, will be transformed into a home-away-from-home bastion of promoting tourism and peace, departing from the northernmost image of a remote village of wildlife. The planned DMZ Museum will be built on a lot of 145,396 sq. meters at a cost of 46 billion won by 2008. The details of the project, including the designation of project contractors, will be made within the first half of the year without a hitch for completion on schedule. The museum will likely be part of the planned inter-Korean tourism bastion connecting railway and overland CIQ area on top of a history hall reminiscing about the reality of dividing the two Koreas.
The "Peace Culture Plaza"will be built in the Hongwon-ri area in Gangsan and Junggang, Dongsong-up, Cheorwon-gun over six years and will be completed in 2009. The project calls for remodeling a meeting place, a museum and an observatory and creation of a park dedicated to the souls of those killed during the Korean War. The Peace Culture Plaza will serve as not only a space of peace, culture, environment, ecology and history, symbolizing a yearning for peaceful unification, but also the home of inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation.
The provincial government is implementing an 18-year long-term project to create a security tourism belt in Igil-ri, Dongsong-up and Gwangsam-ri, Geundong-myeon, Cheorwon-gun at a cost of 23 billion won. The project calls for the creation of an integrated site with a combination of security tour attractions and education on security. A project to build the Dutayeon Security Tourist Site at Songhyeon-ri, Bangsan-myeon, Yanggu-gun, is also under way for completion by 2010 at a cost of 8.7 billion won.
The Plaza for Reunions of Korean Soldiers during the Vietnamese War, being built between 2000 and 2006 at a cost of 16.2 billion won, houses a memorial facility, a reunion place and military beat and other training facilities.
The Kuktojeongjungang Theme Park, under construction at Dochon-ri, Nam-myeon, Yanggu-gun, between 2005 and 2008 at a cost of 8.1 billion won, is significant geopolitically because it is located just in the heart of the Korean Peninsula.
Riverside ecological parks will be constructed in two locations, including Ha-ri, Yanggu-gun, between 2006 and 2010 at a cost of 19.5 billion won. The parks, integrated resort tourist spots combining history, culture, natural environment and security tourist resources, will house bicycle tracks, wild plant gardens, promenade roads, tourist information centers, traditional food courts, camping sits, pension centers and other amenities.
The provincial government is working on others projects, including the ones on Goseokjeong Tourist Site in Jangheung, Dongsong-up, Cheorwon-gun, and Anti-Communist Broadcasting Equipment Exhibition in the neighborhood of the DMZ Museum in Hyeonnae, Goseong-gun.
Q: Will you speak about plans to promote inter-Korean reconciliation and revitalize the tourism industry between South and North Koreas?
A: The Gangwon provincial government has strived for the development of the Mt. Seorak-san, Mt. Geumgang-san and DMZ tourist zones covering 5,477.4 sq. km with a view of building up a Pan-East Sea Tourism Hub in pursuit of inter-Korean reconciliation and peace.
The Mt. Seorak-san Tourism Zone Plan calls for developing an urban entertainment/culture-oriented tourist area in the Sokcho and Yangyang area, a maritime tourist center in Goseong and mountainous resort places in Inje. The DMZ Tourist Zone Plan is about the development of peace and ecology tourist spots in Inje, Yanggu and Goseong areas, while the Mt. Geumgang-san Tourist Zone Plan is designed to set up Mt. Geumgang-san resort places in Samil-po, Onjeong and Jangjeon, maritime resort sports in Lake Dongjeong and Lake Sijung and mountainous resort spots on Mt. Naegeumgang-san.
Under the Mt. Seorak-san-Mt. Geumgang-san tourist zone development plan, established in 2000, a combined 745.6 billion won has been invested for implementing 39 projects as of December 2005. A bill on allowing the Mt. Seorak-san tourist zone to be given a status corresponding to the Mt. Geumgang-san Tourist Zone in North Korea will be submitted for action to the parliament in the second half of the year. The proposed bill is part of the provincial government's efforts to transform the Mt. Seorak-san-Mt. Geumgang-san area into a free international tourism zone, the equivalent to Jeju Free International Tourist Zone. The provincial government is asking the central government to reduce the military protection zones as part of its efforts to promote the development of tourist resources linking South and North Korea.
Q: Would you introduce tourist festivals and events your province can offer according to the seasons?
A: Gangwon Province has as many as 120 festivals and events, large and small, around the year. It may be dubbed the home of festivals. Take a look into representative festivals and events.
During the spring season between March and June, the province offers flower events as well as the ones associated with such indigenous culture as a combination of mountainous greens and culture. They include a cherry blossom festival, an azalea festival, the King Danjong Cultural Festival in Yeongwol and Chuncheon International Mime Festival.
During the summer season between July and August, the province shows off such dynamic festivals and events based on such themes as the sea, unpolluted water and mountains rich with national spirit. They include the Dano Festival in Gangneung, the Dong River Festival in Yeongwol, the Hantan River Summer Festival in Cheorwon and Chuncheon Puppet Performance, the Great Mountains Music Festival & School (GMMFS), being held at Yongpyong Resort, that has turned out to be successful with a performance by International Sejong Soloists (ISS), a New York-based ensemble, created in 1995 under the musical direction of Hyo Kang, a renowned violin professor at the Juilliard School.
During the autumn between September and November, the province holds festivals based on the production of its rich, unique things to eat, including buckwheat noodles, pine mushroom and potato. Hyosuk (Korean poet) Cultural Festival is an example of festivals symbolizing the encounter of the nature and literature in time for blooming buckwheat flowers.
Gangwon Province is recognized as Korea's Mecca of winter sports. Such festivals utilizing a bountiful of snow and freezing weather and sunrise as the Inje Smelt Festival, Mt. Taebaek Snow Festival and Daegwallyong Snow Festival and sunrise sighting in the East Sea are waiting tourists during the winter. Fishing for freshwater fish as well as mountain trout and pond smelt in frozen rivers and sun-rising events designed to send off the old year and usher in the New Year are among the attractions drawing large crowds during the winter.
Sports & tourism fairs are held all around the year in several parts of the province by capitalizing on the provinces'natural gifts - mountains, the sea, rivers and valleys.
The provincial government is working out its steps to provide support to Unesco-designated Dano Festival in a move to upgrade it from a regional folklore fest into a global one. nw

Gwanno Mask Dance, part of the Dano Festival, designated by Unesco as one of the Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Hong Ki-eup, director-general of the Environment, Tourism and Culture Bureau at the Gangwon provincial government

A scene of sunrise

A scenic view of the "Cloud Bridge"in Samilpo, North Korea

Ojukheon, the birthplace of the renowned female artist Shin Saimdang and Confucian Yulgok in Gangneung

South Koreans enjoy hiking on Mt. Geumgang-san.

A breath-taking cliffs and valleys in Samseonam, part of the Mt. Geumgang-san tour course.

An intermediate skiing training class

The Great Mountains Music Festival & School (GMMFS)

Japanese tourists pose before Jukseolu, a pavilion, part of a local government's official buildings during Joseon Dynasty, in Samcheok City.

(left photo) Chamsori (True Sound) Museum, displaying gramophones and other audio instruments in Gangneung, and the projected Gangwon Drama Gallery