C-Festival proves to be a spectacular triumph
Published: 11 May. 2016, 20:13
Some 1.56 million Koreans and 110,000 foreign tourists visited the event, which was held from last Wednesday to Sunday. The economic impact is based on the fact that the event comprised 160.3 billion won worth of products, 3.29 billion won worth of earnings and 10.12 billion won worth of tax revenues. During the five-day event, 1,164 people were temporarily hired and visitors spent 91 billion won at the venue and at neighboring shopping malls, including Hyundai Department Store, for a per capita expenditure of 95,988 won, according to the KID. Last year’s event saw 2.35 million visitors and resulted in an economic impact of about 232 billion won. Given that the festival lasted 11 days last year, this year’s festival saw 57 percent more visitors and a 52 percent greater economic impact, the institute said.
“The C-Festival this year helped revitalize the local economy and the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) industry,” said the KID report.
COEX, short for Convention Exhibition, is the convention arm of the Korea International Trade Association and aspires to make MICE its growth engine. The success this year is largely attributable to the fact that the government unexpectedly designated Friday a temporary public holiday, and also because many Chinese and Japanese tourists traveled to Korea to spend their concurrent holidays in Seoul.
BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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