Hapcheon Sports: Boosting Local Economy

올해 41개 이어 내년엔 48개 스포츠대회 개최 준비 중 
체육으로 지역경제 살리고 ‘명품 스포츠도시’ 입지 강화

Hapcheon-gun is hosting and hosting a total of 41 sports competitions this year, including 27 national-level competitions, 4 provincial-level competitions, and 10 county-level competitions, and is building a new growth model called ‘regional economy revitalization through sports.’

The county promoted the strategic attraction of national sports competitions with long stays and large ripple effects rather than one-time events, creating substantial economic results that led to increased sales of lodging, restaurants, and small businesses. This clearly demonstrates the policy direction of fostering sports as a core industry that drives the local economy beyond simple sports events, and shows that the county is preparing for a new leap forward as a sports city.

◇ Establishing the ‘luxury sports city’ brand by hosting various national competitions

This year, the county successfully held national competitions in a variety of sports, including the 24th Hapcheon Cherry Blossom Marathon in which 13,207 people participated, a record number, as well as the Ha Chan Seok-guk Cup Gifted Baduk Competition, the Spring and Fall National High School Soccer Tournament, the 33rd Queen’s National Girls’ Soccer Tournament, the Hapcheon-gun Cup National Park Golf Tournament, the National Inter-School Badminton Championships, and the National Unemployment Judo Championship. Through this, over 180,000 people visited Hapcheon.

In particular, by distributing competitions by season and event, we created continuous demand for visits throughout the year, and by operating competitions in harmony with the natural environment and sports infrastructure, we received high satisfaction from participants and officials, solidifying the city’s position as a ‘luxury sports city’.

◇ Economic ripple effect proven by objective data

These achievements are clearly confirmed by numbers. According to the Gyeongnam Provincial Information and Communication Office’s integrated analysis data of floating population and card sales big data, the economic ripple effect was clearly revealed during the sports festival in Hapcheon County. Card sales were confirmed to increase by 11.2% during the competition period. The economic ripple effect of sports can be confirmed through objective data, as the sales increase effect was particularly noticeable at lodging establishments and restaurants, and the increasing inflow of young people and external visitors was analyzed to have played a catalyst role in revitalizing the overall local commercial district.

◇ Strengthening competitiveness by expanding sports infrastructure

The county is also accelerating the expansion of infrastructure to improve the completeness of the sports city strategy. The multipurpose gymnasium, which was completed last July with a total project cost of 17 billion won, is a facility specializing in indoor sports with a total floor area of 4,098㎡ and 700 spectator seats. In addition to laying the foundation for stable performances of various indoor games on a national scale, the company plans to continue investing in sports infrastructure, such as installing bleachers and players’ waiting seats at the soccer stadium, securing additional spectator seats at the multipurpose gymnasium, and creating a park golf course.

In addition, we are strengthening our administrative expertise to attract national-scale competitions through workshops and consultations with related organizations, and are steadily promoting sports marketing with a long-term perspective, such as attracting national-scale competitions and carrying out promotional activities for sports organizations.

Meanwhile, tournament officials unanimously praise the professionalism of the administration. Thanks to the dedicated manpower management system for national soccer competitions, the experience of hosting competitions accumulated over many years, and the active cooperation of local small business owners and residents, the administrative expertise for sports competitions is evaluated to be at the highest level in the country.

Due to these efforts, Hapcheon-gun’s sports competitiveness has reached its peak, with a richer and more diverse year in store as a total of 48 sports competitions are scheduled to be held next year, including showing great results in hosting national indoor sports competitions such as badminton, judo, and gymnastics in the five months since the completion of the multi-purpose gymnasium last July, as well as hosting eight national soccer competitions and 79 training camps.

◇ Laying the foundation for continued growth by confirming the lineup for next year’s new national competition

As a result of continuous efforts to attract national competitions by expanding sports facilities and human infrastructure and administrative expertise, the county has confirmed that it will host various national competitions next year.

New competitions to be held include the 3rd Yongdae Cup Badminton Dream Tree Championship, the spring Women’s Football Federation Championship, the spring National Men’s and Women’s University Judo Federation Championships, the 4th Herald Economy/Korea Herald Cup National Wrestling Competition, Gyeongnam Association Long-term Taekwondo Competition, Hapcheon Open National Kids Tennis Competition, the 3rd Kim Hak-Seok Cup National Badminton Championships (elementary), National University and Business Badminton Federation Competition, FIBA The 3×3 Hapcheon Light Quest International Basketball Tournament is scheduled.

Lee Myeong-jin, in charge of sports promotion, said, “As the sports industry is considered a key industry for regional development beyond simple sports events, the county is making every effort to attract sports competitions as an essential strategy to revitalize the local economy and increase the city’s brand value. Going forward, we will continue to attract high-quality national competitions based on differentiated infrastructure and systematic operation capabilities and grow Hapcheon into a sports city that represents Korea.”

Meanwhile, the county’s sports policy model for regional development establishes a virtuous cycle of bold and systematic expansion of infrastructure, strategic hosting of competitions, and objective performance analysis, and is becoming a model for other local governments. Next year, it is expected to establish itself as Korea’s representative sports city in name and reality through an even richer lineup of competitions.

Gyeongnam = Reporter Jeong Do-jeong [email protected]