Special Feature "Special Mission! Introduce the Charm of the Global Tourism City Suwon to Foreigners"

[News S=Reporter Jung Jun-sung] With 2026-2027 marking the Year of Suwon Visits, Suwon City is making multi-faceted efforts to revitalize foreign tourism. On April 19, world-class football stars who played for Manchester United in England's Premier League visited Suwon alongside player Park Ji-sung, part of these initiatives. It was a major event where Park Ji-sung invited his former teammates to his hometown of Suwon, where he spent his childhood, to tour major attractions together. It was a project Suwon City conducted in collaboration with Mega Channel. This follows Suwon City's efforts to leap into becoming a global tourism city.

◇ Year of Suwon Visits, Gathering World-Class Football Legends in One Place

Player Park Ji-sung, who visited Suwon, and 13 legendary players who shared Manchester United's glory days enjoyed touring Suwon like high school students on a school trip.

They shot arrows at Yeonmudae, rode the Hwaseong carriage, toured Suwon's downtown, strolled along the Suwon Hwaseong fortress walls, took commemorative photos at Jangan Gate's outer wall, and ate Suwon galbi.

It was an itinerary capturing the essence of Suwon tourism.

Two YouTube videos featuring the event surpassed 3 million views, introducing Suwon's charm not only to football fans but to people worldwide.

Participants posted Suwon travel content on their personal SNS accounts.

Legend players including Evra (France), Ferdinand (England), Vande Sar (Netherlands), and Anderson (Brazil) promoted Suwon in their native languages.

This resulted in the Year of Suwon Visits brand naturally being exposed to various countries worldwide.

The promotional effect is also proven by numbers. Following the posting of content showing Manchester United legend players experiencing Korean archery in Suwon on SNS, interest in archery experiences increased.

According to Suwon City's tallies, the number of Korean archery experience participants increased from 5,153 in May last year to 6,871 in May this year, a 33.3% increase.

Suwon City is attempting collaborations with various overseas influencers to attract foreign tourists.

The city supported the production of content featuring a Korean-Turkish international couple traveling through Hwaseong Palace and Haengnidan-gil, content showing a Korean-Japanese international couple visiting Namsuhe and Suwon Media Center, content featuring a Korean-Japanese couple in hanbok touring the whole chicken street and drama filming sites, and content of a solo-traveling Japanese creator exploring the Gwanggyo area.

Suwon tourism promotional videos made from foreign perspectives generated approximately 150,000 views total, with continued favorable responses and comments from domestic subscribers.

Suwon City plans to continue discovering international creators and supporting content production to promote Suwon.

◇ Development of Specialized Programs Where Suwon Can Be Recommended as a Travel Destination

Suwon City is focusing on developing specialized programs enabling foreign visitors who retain memories from their time in Suwon to recommend it as a travel destination to those around them.

The goal is to create distinctive Suwon-only products combining sports, wellness, and food.

The 'Suwon Sports Royal Tour,' which allows simultaneous enjoyment of sports and traditional culture, is the leading example.

The package involves experiencing palace snacks making, Korean archery, and XR buses, followed by watching professional sports games to experience Suwon's orderly cheering culture.

Coordinated with teams operating Suwon baseball and basketball, the package is structured to fully enjoy a day in Suwon. Group bookings from travel agencies for foreign tourists are continuing.

Additionally, programs are being prepared including 'K-Heritage Culinary Travel' experiencing Suwon's whole chicken street as a global gastronomic tourism destination, and 'A Journey to Find Health of Body and Mind' providing wellness tourism based on traditional culture at the Suwon Traditional Culture Center, among other programs of interest to foreigners.

In particular, Suwon City is actively pursuing foreign tourist recruitment. Last March, through collaboration with Gyeonggi Tourism Organization, the city supported promotional broadcasting using China's largest online travel platform.

The live commerce conducted four times over two days recorded over 16.33 million views, validating Suwon's appeal.

Chinese show hosts and influencers introduced Suwon's major shopping malls, street food vendors, whole chicken street, and Haengnidan-gil from a live studio set up at Suwon Starfield, gaining popularity and creating an opportunity to introduce the Year of Suwon Visits to the Chinese-speaking world.

Additionally, the city conducted Japanese educational tour group fam tours, encouraging Japanese school trip demand to develop interest in Suwon.

The city also supported filming for a Taiwan entertainment program in August to create opportunities promoting Suwon's attractions and cuisine.

When local travel agencies develop Suwon tourism products in the future, foreign tourists are expected to flow in through this priming effect.

◇ Infrastructure Building to Resolve Foreign Visitor Inconveniences Including Easy Payment

Suwon City has worked to improve foreign visitor inconveniences, enabling them to enjoy and experience Suwon more conveniently.

A notable example is organizing global mobile payment infrastructure so that consumption by increasing foreign tourists centered on the Year of Suwon Visits translates to local commercial sales.

Suwon City previously signed an MOU with the Korea Easy Payment Promotion Agency in March to enhance payment convenience for foreign visitors to Suwon.

Through cooperation with the Zero Pay operator and linking global payment networks, the system can now utilize overseas payment networks from 20 countries and 67 payment methods through system updates alone without additional infrastructure investment.

As a result, 37,000 merchants in Suwon tourism business concentrated areas can now freely use overseas easy payment methods such as Alipay, WeChat Pay, and UnionPay.

From May to July, special promotions were conducted targeting 5,000 merchants in frequently visited foreign areas including Suwon Station, Haenggung-dong, and Ingye-dong.

Discounts and favorable exchange rates were linked for Alipay and WeChat Pay users, which many Chinese utilize, to promote Suwon.

To expand foreign use of global payment networks regionally, the city distributed easy payment promotional kits to merchants to familiarize businesses with overseas payment methods.

The Alipay app features Suwon-exclusive benefits, introduces Paldal-gu's Haenggung-dong and Suwon Hwaseong as 'Suwon's Must-Visit Tourism Areas,' and presents Jangan-gu as a 'Classic SNS Hot Place,' running dedicated promotional events.

Going forward, Suwon City plans to explore ways enabling foreign tourists preferring contactless payment such as Apple Pay to pay conveniently, expanding payment convenience.

◇ Suwon Resident Foreigners, Promoting Diversity with Sister Cities

To successfully promote the Year of Suwon Visits, foreign residents living in Suwon City are also joining efforts to expand foreign tourism.

Immigrants and sister cities participate in various ways.

First, the Citizen Task Force, the official citizen participation body driving the Year of Suwon Visits, includes 10 immigrant committee members from diverse countries including Cambodia,

Japan, China, Vietnam, Mongolia, El Salvador, and Congo.

Immigrant task force members propose diverse tourism ideas and monitor inconveniences.

In August, 'Shbee Global Friends,' where foreign residents reliably provide customized guidance to fellow nationals visiting Suwon, will newly launch.

Approximately 140 people from 20 countries total will participate, serving as customized guides for nationals visiting Suwon.

They will receive practical training and serve as pioneers introducing Korean culture and Suwon's value in their native languages.

Furthermore, Suwon is actively promoting the Year of Suwon Visits in international cities with which Suwon has established sister city relationships and conducted exchanges.

The city dispatched Suwon promotional teams to events in Cluj-Napoca, Freiburg, and Townsville, with plans to conduct multilayered online and offline promotions subsequently.

Additionally, the city is promoting awareness among foreigners staying at major tourist bases in Seoul's downtown and pursuing outdoor advertising in major cities including Japan and China to increase demand for Suwon visits.

Meanwhile, a Suwon City official stated, "Marking the 2026-2027 Year of Suwon Visits, we are fully introducing Suwon's historical, cultural, culinary, and sports resources to the world," adding "We will mobilize all our resources to ensure that growing global interest in K-culture translates to Suwon visits and local consumption."