POSTED: November 25th 2011
NewsUpdate
CHOI: PyeongChang starts in earnest to become the winter sports hub of Asia
LAURA WALDEN / Sports Features Communications
TAMPA/PYEONGCHANG: In the excitement of the opening of the winter sports season at PyeongChang, with this first year as an official Olympic venue, SportsFeatures.com caught up with Gangwon Governor Moon-Soon Choi on his views on the tourism expectations this season and how the local government is looking to take advantage of the boom.
And, important to the foundation of the PyeongChang Games, the establishment of the special law that will enable the start of the works and buildings.
Choi was elected Governor in April of this year with just a couple of months until the final vote to decide the 2018 winter Games host city. Today he is gearing up his tourism efforts to start in earnest to make the alpine area in the Taebaek mountains truly the winter sports hub of Asia.
Now that the OCOG has been formed and the first Executive Board has met, you hold the position of Vice-President. What all has gone forward in Gangwon with the local area in PyeongChang to prepare for the Games?
MOON-SOON CHOI: Gangwon Province is now pushing the establishment of forward so that the Act can be enacted within this year. This Act deals with the establishment of the OCOG, construction of Games' venues and facilities, and so on.
Also, we are drawing a basic plan for the Olympic areas to be designated as the . It aims to prepare a systematic ground on which Olympic venue cities can be developed as the hub cities for sports, culture and tourism in Asia, creating a sustainable development model.
We are at the beginning of the new winter sports season in PyeongChang. Now that the venues are officially Olympic venues what kind of rise have you seen in the tourism interest to visit the area?
MOON-SOON CHOI: Gangwon Province expects that the Olympic Games will provide us with an opportunity not only to witness the increase of the visitors, but also to nurture itself as a world class tourism destination.
As we experience the growth of interests in the area and inquiries about winter sports tourism in Gangwon Province, I guess it is the result of the rise of awareness, we are expecting the increase of tourists in this winter season. And Gangwon Province has vigorously expanded our promotional and marketing activities for tourism to cope with this increase.
Are you planning any special promotions this season to attract new winter sports visitors to the region?
MOON-SOON CHOI: Winter tourism packages that focus on connecting skiing with various experiences, entertainment, and tourism activities that will be organized, such as Fun-Ski Festival (targeting tourists from Taiwan, Hong-Kong, and Singapore) and Ru-Ski Festival (targeting Russians).
We are planning to provide a shuttle service connecting Seoul, PyeongChang (Yongpyong Resort and Alpensia), and Gangneung (Seon-gyo-jang and Cham-so-ri Museum) for foreign ski tourists starting this year.
Also, we are developing tourism packages by which visitors can experience Olympic venues and winter sports and meet Olympic medalists and Korean-wave stars.
Part I of a two part series.
Jongdae Yoon and Eungyeong Choi assisted with this interview.
Keywords · PyeongChang 2018 · Moon Soon Choi · winter Games · Taebaek Mountains
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