Icheon Wins Award for Second Consecutive Year at 10th Korea International Tourism Expo

[Suwon Ilbo=Eom In-yong] Icheon City announced on the 22nd that it participated in the '2025 10th Korea International Tourism Expo' held at KINTEX in Ilsan from the 18th to 21st and received the excellence award in the public preference category. This marks a significant achievement of winning an award for the second consecutive year following last year's win.

The expo was a meaningful gathering for tourism information exchange and mutual cooperation, with participation from some 200 institutions including local governments across the nation, overseas tourism boards, and travel agencies. The public preference category award is selected by evaluating excellent program operation cases based on the reactions and feedback of on-site visitors. Icheon City received high evaluations for operating an experiential tourism promotion pavilion that drew significant visitor interest.

Icheon City's tourism promotion pavilion was organized around experiential and residential programs centered on ceramic experiences. Visitors could subscribe to Icheon City's official social media accounts at the venue, personally design ceramic mugs, have them fired in under 10 minutes, and receive them as commemorative gifts—a program that garnered considerable enthusiasm.

Additionally, the 'Premium Icheon Rice Weight Guessing' event added interest by allowing visitors to directly touch the rice and compete in one-on-one matchups. Through various participatory events such as 'Icheon Tourist Attraction Picture Matching' and 'Icheon Tourism Quiz Show,' major tourist attractions in Icheon were naturally promoted. In particular, the 'Icheon Pet Festival' scheduled to be held on September 13-14 and the 'Icheon Rice Culture Festival' running from October 22-26 were also actively promoted at the venue.

Mayor Kim Kyung-hee of Icheon stated, "Following last year's top award in the tourism content category, it is very meaningful to receive the excellence award in the public preference category this year," and continued, "Going forward, we will make efforts to develop diverse content and promotion to spread Icheon's charm as a tourism city both domestically and internationally."