South Korea own world expo in Yeosu ended up mid August after being opened for three months. But the Expo failed to position Yeosu as a new international tourist destination with very little attendance from foreign travellers.
YEOSU- It took up to the last days to ensure that Yeosu Expo 2012 reached its targeted attendance of eight million visitors during the 93-day of running. But it was achieved at the very last minute, pleasing organizers and Korea. In its final four days, daily visitors number swelled to 270,000, helping to reach the target. Disappointing was however both the number of foreign visitors and the revenues from the event.
Foreign guests was targeted at 550,000 but reached only 400,000. The organizing committee said also that ticket sales revenue fell short of expectations. It only generated a cumulative KRW 60 billion (US$ 53.06 million) in revenues. Initially the Expo committee anticipated generating sales of KRW 182 billion but only reached two-thirds of that amount. It will then leave a large deficit for the expo organizers. The expo cost in fact KRW 2.1 trillion (US$ 1.5 billion), with the government contributing up to KRW 480 billion (US$ 424 million) in the form of loans.
The expo was organized under the theme of “Living Ocean and Coast: Diversity of Resources and Sustainable Activities.” It commenced on May 12 attracting the participation of 104 countries and 10 international organizations and consisted of 80 pavilions and Korea’s largest aquarium on a 25-ha area. Throughout its three-month run, it was filled by thousand of cultural performances and events.
But what will now happen with all the left structures? The expo site as the organizing committee has not publicized a clear plan of what it will do with some of the major attractions, such as the iconic Korea Pavilion and the Sky Tower.
So far only a couple of elements of the Expo will continue to be opened to the public: the aquarium is taken over by Korea’s private Hanwha Group, while the floating stage and the Big-O will likely continue to be used. Korea National Office of Tourism indicates that the Korea Pavilion will remain in use even after the Expo is finished and will continue to play a role in sharing the traditional shapes and colors of Korea with global audiences. But it will need also important promotional budgets to turn Yeosu into a destination on its own. So far, despite the hosted Expo, they are still few people outside Korea who ever heard of this place…
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
