Tourism and winter sports participation on the up and up
PyeongChang 2018 helped the Republic of Korea position itself as a leading winter sports destination. Venues such as the Yongpyong Alpine Centre and Phoenix Snow Park attract visitors from across the country and around the world, helping to make the Republic of Korea the 20th most visited country in the world in 2023, when it welcomed 17.2 million foreign tourists.
The Yongpyong Alpine Centre, the largest ski and snowboard resort in the Republic of Korea, has 28 runs and a host of other leisure facilities, including golf courses, a water park, a mountain coaster ride and the longest gondola course in Asia, at 7.4 kilometres. Together with the resort’s extensive accommodation, which ranges from budget-friendly to premium five-star hotels, these attractions have allowed it to gain an international reputation.
Phoenix Snow Park is itself a well-established tourist destination, offering various recreational facilities. Aside from its 21 runs, ski school slope and halfpipe, it boasts a golf course, water park, snow village and five-star hotel.
In addition to the PyeongChang 2018 Legacy Foundation’s Dream Programme, many initiatives targeting winter sports participation have boosted the development of these sports in the Republic of Korea. The Alpensia Sliding Centre offers training, competition and sports experience programmes for the country’s athletes and those from further afield, while the Soohorang and Bandabi Sports Camps engage young people from all over the Republic of Korea. These gatherings, which allow them to try their hand at winter sports at several Olympic venues in both PyeongChang and Gangneung, run concurrently with winter sports team trials, training sessions and sports programmes.
Meanwhile, the Let’s Play Winter Festival engaged around 230,000 people during the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games, giving them the opportunity to experience winter sports and K-culture. Other successful winter sports programmes include Hockey Together, the Play Winter Academy and the New Horizons Academy, all of which allow budding young athletes from the Republic of Korea to hone their skills in their chosen winter sports.
Such initiatives helped increase participation in winter sports, with the number of people registered with winter sports clubs in the Republic of Korea rising from 1,904 in 2014 to 4,398 in 2018, while the number of people playing winter sports in the country increased from 5,221 in 2014 to 6,073 in 2018.
PyeongChang 2018 made a significant contribution to the development of tourism infrastructure in Gangwon, with the number of hotel rooms in the province increasing from 3,983 in 2009 to 5,716 in 2017 – together with Gangwon’s new-found ability to host festivals and “MICE” events (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions), leading to a 26 per cent increase in visitor numbers.
The Gangwon 2024 Winter YOG, held from 19 January to 1 February 2024, boosted the region’s appeal to visitors, reaching more than 190 territories via global media. A total of 501,230 foreign and domestic visitors attended the Youth Olympic Games, generating an economic impact of approximately USD 73.2 million.
The staging of the Winter Youth Olympic Games was timely, given that the Republic of Korea’s tourism industry was still recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Visited by 17.5 million international tourists in 2019, the country attracted only 3.2 million in 2022. Its aim for 2024 was to reach 20 million a year – this started well with 880,000 international arrivals in January alone. Between 1.4 and 1.5 million people visited the country from March to May 2024, a significant increase compared to the 900,000 that did so in the same period in 2023.