Gyeonggi Province Completes Regional Tourism Development by 2013

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 11th that it will complete the development of regionally specialized tourist destinations that reflect local characteristics and history by 2013.

The province has been selecting and developing province-designated tourist sites such as Yeoju's Sinryuksa Temple, Yangpyeong's Yongmun Mountain, and Pyeongtaek's Pyeongtaek Lake since the early 1980s.

First, the Yongmun Mountain tourist site will invest 160 million won this year to upgrade the central plaza and water/sewage facilities, and will complete the construction of a tourism belt linked with nearby Batanggol Art Hall, Caterpillar Ecology School, Semiwon, and Freshwater Fish Ecology Learning Center by 2009.

A total of 489 billion won has been invested in the Yongmun Mountain tourist site—developed since 1982 centered on the natural monument ginkgo tree and Yongmun Temple—for outdoor performance venues, rest areas, management offices, and parking lots.

The province will also install basic facilities such as road construction at the Sinryuksa Temple tourist site, which has received 128.1 billion won invested in ecological ponds and fountains since 1983, and will complete its development into an experiential tourist destination where visitors can directly board traditional hwangpo sailing boats and create traditional pottery by 2010.

Additionally, the province will invest 1 billion won this year to expand a 500-meter-long waterfront deck at the Pyeongtaek Port tourist site, developed since 1981 as a leisure-type tourist destination with waterfront walking paths and family recreation facilities.

In particular, after establishing detailed project plans in the second half of this year, the province will expand and designate the Pyeongtaek Port tourist site from its current 200,000 pyeong in the Hyunduk-myeon area to 700,000 pyeong encompassing the Daean-ri area, and will develop it in connection with special support projects for Pyeongtaek by 2013 in accordance with the relocation of U.S. Forces Korea.