Incheon City Hall is not far from Seoul, but it feels really far. Although Incheon is the closest metropolitan city from Seoul, I was more than 20 minutes late for my interview due to heavy traffic. Finally, I started my interview with Mr. Hwang Ui-sik, the Director of Culture, Tourism, and Sports Bureau of Incheon City.
Journalist: I apologize for being late. I did not know there were so many construction sites in Incheon.
Director: It is okay! It is because we are currently working on Incheon Subway Line 2 and trying to complete it before 2014 Incheon Asian Games. When the Incheon Subway Network is linked to Seoul Metropolitan Network, it will greatly improve the metropolitan public transportation system.
Jouralist: Without mentioning Inchoen, I cannot even talk about any big business projects in Korea such as Incheon holding the Global Fair & Festival 2009. Incheon has gained a lot more attention in tourism than ever before, right
Director: Of course. We believe we took a step forward in tourism in 2009. We had the Global Fair & Festival 2009, which attracted a lot of tourists. Also four brand new luxury hotels were opened after we were criticized for not having enough hotels.
Journalist: While Korea is recognized as the leader in the IT industry, Incheon calls itself the "Future City". Where do you get that confidence
Director: The Knowledge Information Industry Complex, consists of IT, BT, R&B center, techno park, RFID/USN center (u-IT share based system), and bio-research complex (BRC), is currently under construction in Songdo International City. I would like to recommend you to take the IT tour course called "Tomorrow City". You can experience the future transportation, business, shopping, and residential systems. It is a miniature version of what Songdo International City will be. With combination of IT technology and advanced computing power, the city will maximize the efficiency while minimizing the energy use to be an eco-friendly future city.
The goal of Incheon City for 2010 is "to establish the Compact Smart City to open the future." "Smart" is the new trend and we want to establish the "Compact Smart City" before anyone else.
Journalist: I am familiar with "Smart", but what is "Compact Smart City"
Director: To summarize it into one sentence, it is a highly concentrated development while maximizing its function. It is a new paradigm that the world is pursing. It is obvious that commercializing Incheon as a tour product is a wise choice. One of our major projects for this year is to develop more tour resources for Songdo International City.
Journalist: I am looking forward to see the future of Incheon, but Inchoen still does not have its own unique tour merits.
Director: We do. I have not talked about the big event we had last year in Incheon. As you might know already, we built the Incheon Bridge, the seventh longest bridge in the world. Someone told me he saw an ad that said, "Build like the Incheon Bridge". It is not just about the size. It is about the advanced civil engineering. Dubai has recently announced the Moratorium, and it is known as the miracle of the dessert. Inchoen is the miracle of the sea.
We also have an international airport. The Incheon Airport was chosen as the best airport in the world by Airports Council International (ACI), for five consecutive years. I believe we have enough merits as a tour city with excellent transportation infrastructure. Incheon Tourism Organization (ITO) established in 2005, tries hard to attract foreign and domestic tourists. Foreigners may not know about Incheon City, but most of them know about Incheon Airport.
Journalist: That is true. After hearing from you, I think Incheon has many good merits for tourism because Incheon also has sea ports.
Director: We say Incheon is opened to the sky, sea, and land. But now we describe Incheon as the city that connects prehistory and history, where past and future co-exist. As you know, Ganghwa Island has the Dolmen from the Bronze Age, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Also, Buddhist temples such as Jeondeungsa and historical battle field sites, Chojijin and Gwangsungbo, are located on Ganghwa Island. On the other hand, we have the future city, Songdo International City. So I believe we have big merits in tourism that shows the past to the future of Incheon. Soon, Inchoen will be recognized as a tour city rather than an industrial city.
Journalist: As I hear more about Incheon, I realize how nice the city is. I would like to hear more about projects for tourism.
Director: We are focusing on Meeting Incentive Convention Exibition (MICE) business around Songdo and Yeongjong, and developing Yongyu and Muuido as recreation and lesuire cities. Last October, the announcement to hold 2010 G20 Summit in Korea was the biggest news in Korean diplomatic history. We really tried hard to host the G20 summit. However, Seoul was finally chosen to host the summit. We were disappointed, but it was a good opportunity to show Incheon to the world. Fortunately, the first preliminary G20 meeting was successfully held in Sondo in February. Attendees were satisfied with Songdo convensia and Sheraton Incheon Hotel. The capacity as an international city was evaluated and we also gained a lot of confidence from the event.
Journalist: MICE industry is known as a gold mine, so other local governments are developing MICE as their major industry. Incheon has built the sixth convention center in Korea, and its size is considered to be fairly small.
Director: As a new comer, we do feel some pressure. Daegu and Jeju are also actively promoting the MICE business. But, Songdo Convensia where we hosted the first preliminary G20 meeting has completed only the first phase. The second phase will be completed on May, 2012. We will add 76,600 ㎡ to the current 54,000 ㎡ area, more than doubling its size. Also, the Art Circus Theater will be built inside of the convention center while IFEZ Art Center will be two blocks away from Songdo Convensia. The world's renowned maestro Chung Myung-hoon's and the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra (APO) will play at the IFEZ Art Center. The infrastructure and tour contents will be completed by 2012.
Journalist: It is going to be a tour cluster around Songdo Convensia.
Director: It is only part of our business plan. Tokyo has Disneyland, Incheon's main attraction is going to be Paramount's Theme Park and Robot Land where Robot Taekwon V can be viewed from the sky. The grand opening is scheduled in 2012.
Culture, Tour, Lesuire complex city will be built in Yongyu and Muuido by 2014 while Milano Design City (MDC) in Yeongjong will be completed in 2017. This gives great potential for Incheon to grow its tourism.
Journalist: Incehon is amazing, but that is the blue print for future. May you tell me more about this year's plan for Incheon tourism.
Director: As you said, it is the blue print. Incheon is called a fast city. Today is different from yesterday, and tomorrow will be different from today as the city progressively changes. It is not just a city you really want to visit once, but a city you want to visit again.
This year we are going to promote the city tour using Incheon's land mark, Incheon Bridge, and walking tour, "Wolmi Dalbit Nuri II". Also, by singing a MOU with KORAIL, we are going to create more demand for railroad tours for the metropolitan area. We will also have tour packages for group tours and school trips. We are planning to have approximately 10 presentations for the foreign tourist market. Last February, we already signed MOUs to bring Chinese Silver tourists. In 2009, Incheon tourists have increased by 78 percent to 13 million people, but our target for this year is 20 million tourists.
Journalist: I look at Incheon differently after this interview. It is not an industrial city or a satellite city, but a city hidden by Seoul.
Director: Yes. We will soon surpass Busan as the second biggest city in Korea. But our main goal is to become the world's top 10 luxury city. Using 2014 Asian Games as a turning point, Incheon will be the first-class city by 2020.
Journalist: Thank you for the interview.
From unlimited global competitions, the green growth future of Korea can be seen through the potential of Incheon Tourism.
