The 2022 Culture and Tourism Festival Conference, organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister PARK Bo Gyoon, MCST) ended in great success on November 28 at Seoul Olympic Parktel located in Songpa-gu, Seoul.

This academic conference brought together officials in charge of the Festival at local governments and public institutions nationwide as well as over 100 experts from the industry, academia, and research circles and provided a forum for discussing ways to promote the advancement and safety of the Culture and Tourism Festival. The Conference proceeded in three sessions: a discussion on the future direction of the Festival, presentations and lectures by relevant officials and experts, and communication among working-level staff members.

Senior Researcher RYU Jeong-ah of Korea Culture and Tourism Institute gave a presentation entitled “Future Direction for the Culture and Tourism Festival to Develop into a Truly Global Festival after the Pandemic,” followed by a lively discussion chaired by Professor LEE In-jae of Gachon University and participated in by experts from the government, academia, and business (Head Director LEE Jae-won, a performance and festival specialist who directed the Welcome to Daehak-ro festival and parade-style Wonju Dynamic Dancing Carnival; Ghost LX Director RYU Jeong-sik, a performance planner; Professor KWON Jang-wuk of Dongseo University; and Head of the Domestic Tourism Promotion Division LEE Gwan-pyo of MCST). This session provided the opportunity to examine the importance of public-private cooperation in ensuring a safe festival, while also drawing implications from success cases overseas to define the next steps to march forward as a globally renowned festival.

In the next session, outstanding cases of MCST’s festival support project were shared, and expert lectures were given on the need to operate the Festival in a more eco-friendly mannered and introduce festival effect analysis techniques based on Big Data. Training on proper safety management and responses to multitudes of visitors flocking to the Festival was also performed.

The final session served as an opportunity for working-level staff members of the local governments and institutions involved in the Festival to interact and communicate. The participants shared their experiences and difficulties concerning the safety, planning, content creation, and publicity of the Festival and sought solutions together, while also shedding light on their wishes concerning the government’s support policy for the Festival.

The attendees agreed that the Conference has contributed to raising awareness on the need for more thorough safety management and the Festival’s standing as a source of tourism through a multifaceted discussion on ways to realize a safer Festival, MCST’s presentation on improvement points for the safety evaluation index of the Festival, lectures and training by safety management experts, and interaction among working-level staff members in charge of the Festival.

An MCST official said, “The Festival has served as a link of communication that transcends different boundaries and a leading source of tourism that instills vitality into local economies. We plan to provide continued policy support for the Festival to rise as a truly global event by ensuring systematic safety management and reinforced competitiveness.”