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Analysis Area: 7 cities and counties along the southern coast of Gyeongsangnam-do and linked tourism zones
Core Areas:  Changwon, Tongyeong, Sacheon, Geoje, Goseong, Namhae, Hadong
Agenda:  Whether visitor growth is actually linked to accommodation, nighttime consumption, experiences, and local revenue
Golden Time Type: Destination Investment Opportunity + Stay-economy Conversion Risk
Version: Regional AX Golden Time Intelligence v3.2 Reference Date for Enhanced Criteria
: 2026.08.28
 

According to data from the Gyeongnam Tourism Foundation, the number of visitors to Gyeongnam over the past year was approximately 156.24 million, a 4.0% increase from the previous year; the average length of stay was 430 minutes, and the ratio of overnight visitors was 22.8%. While the visitor figures from the Korea Tourism Data Lab are trend analysis indicators that include daily overlaps and therefore do not equate to the actual number of tourists, they confirm a structural trend where increases in visits and average length of stay do not necessarily move in the same direction. Furthermore, gaps remain where visitor data is not connected to a single tourist itinerary due to differing aggregation standards for visitors, overnight guests, length of stay, and tourism consumption. If only the number of visits for the 2026–2028 period is managed as performance indicators, the transition to a stay-based economy will not be verified, even if facility investment expands. Although  Gyeongnam tourism has grown as a visitor market, the transition to a stay-based economy at the regional level remains incomplete. ( Gyeongnam Tourism Trends and Issues , Korea Tourism Data Lab )

Namhae County recorded an average stay of 1,490 minutes and an overnight stay ratio of 22.2% relative to visitors in 2025; a separate survey on visitor behavior revealed that 78.4% of respondents were overnight travelers, while 57.1% were repeat visitors. Publicly released data for Geoje Island in 2026 showed an average stay of approximately 2,400 minutes and an average length of stay of about 2.7 days. Although some destinations on the southern coast have reached the status of stay-type tourism, visitor spending in Namhae remained stagnant, with accommodation costs at 31.5%, food and beverages at 30.3%, and tourism activity expenses at 7.1%. This confirms a gap where consumption of experiences, content, and local products does not correlate proportionally with longer stays. If only accommodation and dining increase over the next two to three years, stay-type tourism becomes entrenched in long-term, low-density consumption rather than high-value-added tourism industries.  The current problem for the southern coast is not merely tourism where visitors do not stay, but tourism where additional consumption does not occur even when they do stay. ( Namhae County Tourism Council , Kookje Shinmun , Geoje Shinmun )

Gyeongnam has secured the Tongyeong Complex Marine Leisure Tourism City project, with a total budget of 1.1 trillion won, and 58.9 billion won in state funding for the 2025 Southern Region Wide-Area Tourism Development. While investments in tourism facilities and marine leisure hubs have scaled up, the Gyeongnam Provincial Council officially raised concerns in 2025 that tourism in the region is characterized by short stays and that over 82% of tourism consumption is concentrated on food, beverages, and shopping. A shared outcome linking the progress rate of investment projects with accommodation conversion rates, nighttime consumption, repeat visits, and local business revenue has not been confirmed. Since the period from 2026 to 2028 is when the designs for large-scale projects are finalized, the exclusion of consumer flow patterns will lead to a sharp increase in modification costs after completion.  Currently, the "Golden Time" is Destination Investment Opportunity + Stay-economy Conversion Risk. ( Gyeongnam Provincial Council 2025 Administrative Audit , Gyeongnam Provincial Council Personnel Hearing )

The southern coast of Gyeongnam boasts Hallyeohaesang National Marine Park, over 500 islands, ria coastlines, Mt. Mireuk and Gangguan in Tongyeong, Haegeumgang and Windy Hill in Geoje, German Village in Namhae, the Seomjin River and Mt. Geumosan in Hadong, and the dinosaur heritage of Goseong. While natural, marine, historical, and gastronomic resources are interconnected, the actual movement of tourists is fragmented by destinations within specific cities and counties and by private vehicle routes. There is no evidence linking the proportion of guests staying in Tongyeong who travel to Geoje, Goseong, and Namhae with additional spending between cities. Even if investments in individual tourist destinations are repeated over two to three years, the number of visited locations may increase, but the total length of stay along the southern coast does not rise.  In terms of resources, the southern coast constitutes a single tourism zone, but in terms of tourist movement, it still consists of multiple individual destinations.

There are limitations to directly comparing rankings between the province-wide average stay of 430 minutes from the Gyeongnam Tourism Foundation data—compared to Namhae-gun's 1,490 minutes and Geoje's approximately 2,400 minutes—due to differences in survey periods and aggregation standards. However, there is a clear disparity in stay-type performance between the province as a whole and its representative coastal destinations. There is a lack of public dashboards that compare the metropolitan average with the stay times and accommodation rates by city and county using the same criteria. If conflicting statistics are presented in parallel as policy outcomes for the 2026–2028 period, it will be impossible to determine which specific regions and content contributed to the sustained stays.  While Gyeongnam possesses tourism data, a common baseline for the metropolitan stay economy remains incomplete.

Tourism on the South Coast is linked to accommodation, restaurants, cafes, passenger ferries, cruise ships, rental cars, leisure activities, traditional markets, local specialties, and culture and arts. However, local tourism consumption is concentrated on accommodation and food and beverages, while the proportion of spending on tourism activities and shopping is low. The structure prevents tourists' time from spreading to revenue in various local industries. There is no evidence tracking cross-purchases between sectors or consumption the day after an overnight stay. If the concentration on essential consumption persists for two to three years, the increase in the number of tourists will be limited to seasonal revenue for a small number of accommodation and food service sectors.  Compared to the breadth of tourism resources, the South Coast has a narrow range of sectors for tourism consumption.

The Tongyeong Complex Marine Leisure Tourism City was selected with a total project cost of 1.1 trillion won, and the Southern Region Wide-Area Tourism Development Project also began in earnest in 2024. While the physical scale of marine leisure, accommodation, and tourism hubs is expanding, there is a lack of public evidence regarding which supply chains local small business owners and residents will participate in before and after the project. A gap remains in the consumption flow connecting visitors to large-scale facilities with sales in existing commercial districts. Once the detailed design and private investment structure are finalized between 2026 and 2028, the space for local businesses to enter the market afterward will shrink.  Although the scale of investment in South Coast tourism has expanded, the structure for the expansion of the local economy has not been finalized at the same level.

In 2025, Gyeongnam promoted stay-type tourism projects, including 38 unique tourism resources worth 49.5 billion won and 14 healing tourism products worth 15.9 billion won. While the number of projects and budgets are verified, additional overnight stays, nighttime consumption, off-season visits, and revenue for local businesses per project are not disclosed in an integrated manner. A gap exists between the performance of content creation and the results of the stay economy. If performance metrics focused on the number of projects and execution rates are maintained for two to three years, projects that failed to generate stays remain as completed projects.  Currently, while stay-type tourism has expanded in the project portfolio, its economic performance remains unverified. ( Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Council Major Business Report )

A survey showing that 78.4% of visitors to Namhae-gun are overnight travelers and 57.1% are repeat visitors demonstrates the foundation for extended stays and repeated visits. However, satisfaction levels were lower for shopping (3.90) and travel destination prices (3.89) compared to tourist attraction appeal (4.56) and resident friendliness (4.35). While natural scenery drives initial visits and repeat visits, the structure is such that consumption experience and price trust have not reached the same level. If repeat visitors are not provided with new experiences and consumption opportunities between 2026 and 2028, per capita spending will stagnate even if visit frequency is maintained.  The ecosystem gap on the southern coast is not due to the motivation for visiting, but rather the lack of new value to purchase during a second visit.

The performance units of the tourism industry are shifting from the number of visitors to length of stay, accommodation conversion, experiential consumption, repeat visits, and locally attributable revenue. The Korea Tourism Data Lab also provides data on visitors, accommodation and duration of stay, tourism consumption, and inflow and outflow regions separately, specifying that visitor numbers should be used for trend analysis rather than as a total volume. The limitations of tourism evaluation centered on visitor volume were also confirmed at the data provider level. For Gyeongnam, the business performance is still evaluated by combining visitor numbers with the number of facilities and programs, resulting in an incomplete transition to outcome indicators. If visitor indicators take precedence for two to three years, transient populations without stays or consumption are accumulated as tourism performance figures.  South Coast tourism has entered a phase of structural change requiring a shift from visitor economy evaluation to stay economy evaluation, yet the measurement systems remain mixed. ( Korea Tourism Data Lab )

Travel demand has diversified from viewing natural landscapes to multi-purpose stays that combine nighttime experiences, gastronomy, leisure, wellness, local culture, and workcations. In 2025, the Gyeongnam Provincial Council presented a diagnosis that Gyeongnam’s nights are dark and that over 82% of tourism consumption is concentrated on food, beverages, and shopping. A gap is identified between daytime nature tourism and the content available after overnight stays. If nighttime scenic facilities increase between 2026 and 2028 without connecting paid experiences, performances, transportation, and commercial districts, nighttime stays will be limited to staying in guest rooms.  The temporal risk facing the South Coast lies not in failing to illuminate the night, but in failing to convert nighttime hours into local revenue.

Tourists select destinations based on a combination of travel time and experience, rather than administrative boundaries. Although the South Coast is a continuous coastal region encompassing Tongyeong, Geoje, Goseong, Sacheon, Namhae, and Hadong, public transportation, maritime transport, integrated booking, baggage handling, and overnight return services are fragmented by city and county. There is a lack of evidence showing actual tourist conversion rates between regions and points where travel ends. Even if major hub facilities open between 2026 and 2028, if connecting transportation does not develop at a consistent pace, visitors will remain confined to a single city, while other regions will remain merely day-trip transit points.  The unit of competition on the South Coast has shifted from individual tourist destinations to the friction costs between cities.

The climate crisis simultaneously alters sea levels, heatwaves, torrential rains, typhoons, red tides, and the peak seasons of coastal tourism. Due to the South Coast's high dependence on natural landscapes and marine leisure activities, weather shocks directly lead to accommodation cancellations, ferry service suspensions, and the cancellation of outdoor programs. However, there is no confirmed regional evidence linking weather risks to reservation cancellations and reduced consumption. If facility investment increases over the next two to three years without measuring climate resilience, the operating days of coastal assets will decrease.  The growth risk for South Coast tourism lies more in the increased volatility of available tourism hours than in a lack of demand.

Gyeongnam is pursuing the Southern Region Wide-Area Tourism Development, the Tongyeong Complex Marine Leisure Tourism City, the South Coast Global Marine Tourism Belt, and island, marine leisure, and healing tourism in parallel with regional stay packages. While spatial and content businesses have expanded simultaneously, a wide-area runtime connecting visitor booking, travel, accommodation, nighttime consumption, and movement to the next city has not been confirmed. A gap exists between the administrative coordination between projects and the coordination of tourist itineraries. Post-completion integration costs will increase once individual projects are completed and operational between 2026 and 2028.  The current response is in the stage of expanding tourism resources, not the stage of integrating tourist itineraries.

The Gyeongnam Tourism Foundation and cities and counties analyze visitors and consumption using mobile communication, credit card, navigation, and survey data. Namhae County surveyed 2,892 people at 15 major tourist destinations from April to December 2025 to secure data on accommodation, repeat visits, and satisfaction. While the survey infrastructure has expanded, there is no evidence linking credit card spending, accommodation reservations, mobility data, and surveys to the same tourist group. Although the trends in different statistical patterns can be observed, the causal path from visit to accommodation to consumption cannot be confirmed. If data is separated by report over a period of two to three years, comparisons of effectiveness across different projects become limited.  While tourism data collection has progressed, readiness for determining the causality of the stay economy remains low.

Nighttime and festival content, such as Tongyeong Dipirang, the Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival, and Namhae German Village, creates motivation for extended stays in certain regions. However, there is a lack of evidence that the success of specific events and representative tourist destinations has spread year-round across the entire southern coast. This leaves a consumption gap in regions lacking nighttime content and during the off-season. If success stories remain confined to individual attractions between 2026 and 2028, the average length of stay and consumption within the metropolitan tourism region will not change significantly.  While the performance of nighttime tourism at a specific point level is confirmed, its expansion across time and space remains unconfirmed.

The southern coast of Gyeongnam possesses islands, coastlines, gastronomy, history, and marine leisure, but it is situated between Busan’s international airport, cruises, MICE, and urban night economy, and Jeonnam’s islands, gastronomy, and garden tourism. While Busan is strengthening its role as a gateway and urban consumption, and Jeonnam is reinforcing its Namdo gastronomy and regional brand, Gyeongnam lacks the evidence to be recognized as a single booking, transportation, and consumption zone, despite possessing numerous natural tourist attractions. There is a gap between resource superiority and market recognition. If the regional products of Busan and Jeonnam secure international distribution networks first between 2026 and 2028, Gyeongnam will be relegated to the status of an intermediate stop or an individual destination.  The competitiveness of the southern coast of Gyeongnam is inferior in its ability to be sold as a regional destination compared to its resource volume.

Namhae-gun's average stay of 1,490 minutes is approximately 7 hours longer than the national average of 1,055 minutes for basic local governments, and its overnight stay ratio of 22.2% exceeded the national average of 7%. While Namhae has secured a competitive advantage as a domestic nature tourism destination focused on extended stays, the proportion of tourism activity spending remained at 7.1%, and shopping spending at 9.8%. This represents a gap where the advantage in lengthy stays has not yet translated into an advantage in high-value experiential consumption. If changes in consumption patterns lag behind the increase in stay duration over a period of two to three years, the ripple effect of long-term stays on the local economy becomes limited.  Namhae is positioned as a leading region in lengthy stays, but not as a leading region in the experience economy. ( Gyeongnam Ilbo , Namhae Times )

Geoje showed high indicators for stay-type tourism, with an average length of stay of approximately 2,400 minutes and an average number of nights of accommodation of about 2.7 days. However, it is difficult to determine solely from publicly available data to the extent that business trips and visits for the shipbuilding industry are separated from pure tourism stays in the statistics. This leaves open the possibility that business accommodations in industrial cities may be mixed into the accommodation performance of tourist cities. If accommodation by purpose is not separated for the 2026–2028 period, the stay performance generated by tourism policies will be assessed as either overestimated or underestimated. While  Geoje has a strong foundation for stays, the precise verification of its contribution to tourism remains incomplete.

The number of visitors to Gyeongnam reached approximately 156.24 million, a 4.0% increase from the previous year; however, the average duration of stay for the entire province was reported as 430 minutes, and the ratio of overnight visitors was 22.8%. There is no evidence to support the claim that the increase in visits led to a equitable increase in both accommodation and stays. Furthermore, the methods used to tally the number of visits and the actual number of people differ. If visit volume is maintained as a representative performance indicator for two to three years, it becomes impossible to distinguish between repeat visits by the same individual and long-term stays.  While the aggregate indicators for Gyeongnam tourism demonstrate market exposure, they do not reflect the scale of the stay economy.

The survey showing that 78.4% of visitors to Namhae are overnight travelers, and the Data Lab-based ratio of overnight stays to visits at 22.2%, reveal significant discrepancies even within the same region depending on the survey subjects and formulas used. Since one is a survey of visitors to major tourist destinations and the other is an estimate based on mobile communications, they cannot be directly compared. There is no standard to combine these disparate indicators into a single performance result. If only favorable figures are selected over a period of two to three years, the effectiveness of the stay policy cannot be verified.  The first data gap in South Coast tourism is not a lack of figures, but a discrepancy in definition.

Tourism consumption in Namhae consisted of 31.5% for accommodation, 30.3% for food and beverages, 15.1% for transportation, 9.8% for shopping, and 7.1% for tourism activities. Essential costs—including accommodation, dining, and transportation—accounted for 76.9%, while optional experiences and shopping amounted to only 16.9%. Although tourists stay for extended periods, the proportion of purchases for unique local experiences is low. There is no evidence linking consumption by industry sector with motivations for revisiting. If the concentration on essential consumption persists for two to three years, the increase in the supply of hotel rooms and restaurants will intensify price competition.  Evidence in Namhae confirms that a stay-based economy is not formed solely by an increase in the length of stay.

The Provincial Council’s assessment that over 82% of tourism spending is concentrated on food, beverages, and shopping differs from the Namhae survey's figure of 61.8% for accommodation and food, due to differences in the scope of the investigations. However, they both agree on the trend that the proportion of spending on culture, leisure, and experiences is low. There is no system in place to compare consumption classifications across Gyeongnam as a whole with those by city and county using the same criteria. Unless consumption shifts by industry sector are measured for the period 2026–2028, the economic effects of investment in experiential content cannot be assessed.  There are strong structural signals in South Coast tourism indicating that the diversity of consumption is lower than the amount spent.

The biggest gap is the lack of a connection structure that converts tourists' time into revenue for local businesses . While Namhae and Geoje exhibit long lengths of stay and high accommodation indicators, tourism activity spending in Namhae remained at 7.1% and shopping spending at 9.8%. The length of stay and what was purchased are not linked at the individual business level. If only the length of stay increases between 2026 and 2028, low-density stays will become entrenched, with no consumption occurring outside of accommodation facilities.  The Readiness GAP of the South Coast lies in the ability to commercialize the length of stay, rather than the number of accommodation facilities.

The second gap lies in regional mobility. While the resources of Tongyeong, Geoje, Goseong, Sacheon, Namhae, and Hadong are continuous, integrated transportation, reservations, tickets, baggage, overnight travel, and the conversion rates of tourists between cities are fragmented. There is no evidence that staying in one region leads to visiting and spending in the next. When large-scale hub projects open individually over a period of two to three years, tourists spend within the hub and do not spread to surrounding cities and counties.  The South Coast Tourism Belt exists in administrative plans but does not exist in the actual tourist runtime.

The third gap is revenue attributable to the local community. While card data shows total local consumption and business sectors, it does not reveal the profit distribution among franchises, external platforms, and local businesses. When accommodation bookings and experience sales pass through external platforms, the total transaction volume and the income remaining in the region change. If reliance on platforms increases over two to three years, the number of tourists may rise, but the customer data and resale capabilities of local businesses weaken.  Gyeongnam measures tourism consumption but fails to measure the local retention rate of tourism revenue.

The southern coast features accommodations, beaches, national parks, cruise ships, passenger ships, cable cars, marinas, scenic roads, and major night attractions. An investment of 1.1 trillion won for a complex marine leisure tourism city is also planned for Tongyeong. While the total volume of physical tourism infrastructure is expanding, there is no integrated evidence regarding travel time between facilities, capacity utilization rates, and off-season usage rates. The risk of supply dispersion, which leads to lower individual capacity utilization rates, increases as new facilities are added between 2026 and 2028.  The readiness of physical infrastructure is assessed as upper-middle, while the readiness of runtime between facilities is assessed as lower.

The Gyeongnam Tourism Foundation and cities and counties possess personnel for tourism planning and marketing, while the private sector includes operators of accommodation, food service, and leisure businesses. However, there is no evidence that personnel for data analysis, revenue management, multilingual sales, online distribution, and night program operation have spread throughout the entire South Coast. A capability gap remains between major tourist destinations and small-scale local businesses. If sales centered on large facilities and platforms expand over the next two to three years, small-scale operators will be left merely as suppliers.  While on-site service personnel exist, the diffusion of personnel for managing stay products and data remains low.

The Korea Tourism Data Lab provided mobile communication, credit card, and navigation data, and Namhae County conducted a survey of 2,892 visitors. While a data foundation exists, the aggregation units for visits, accommodations, consumption, and repeat visits differ, and they do not connect to individual itineraries. A gap remains between data possession and causal determination. If only project-specific surveys are added over the next two to three years, the number of reports may increase, but the factors that led to extended stays will not be identified.  The readiness for tourism data is assessed as upper-middle, while the readiness for verifying the economy of stay is assessed as lower-middle.

Namhae County recorded approximately 6.2 million tourists and 56 billion won in tourism spending by 2025, with an average length of stay longer than the national average for basic local governments. While tourism demand and consumption have actually flowed into the region, the spending per visit and the amount attributed to each local business cannot be verified solely through publicly available data. A gap remains between total tourism spending and the income of small business owners. If only the total amount of visits and spending increases over the next two to three years, polarization by industry, town/village, and business owner will remain outside the scope of the statistics.  While tourism in Namhae generates local revenue, the extent of its expansion into the local economy remains unassessable. ( Gyeongnam Ilbo )

Tourist spending is concentrated on accommodation and food and beverages, while the proportion spent on tourism activities and shopping is low. Although the performance of stay declines for accommodation and restaurants, there is no evidence that it declines with the same intensity for cultural and artistic professionals, fishing village experiences, leisure businesses, or local producers. A gap in diffusion between sectors is confirmed. If the structure centered on essential consumption is maintained from 2026 to 2028, an oversupply of accommodation and food services will occur simultaneously with the small-scale nature of the rest of the tourism industry.  The current expansion of the stay economy is concentrated in essential services rather than across all sectors.

External reservation, delivery, map, and travel platforms mediate the search and payment of tourism products on the South Coast. While local businesses generate revenue, the structure dictates that customer information, repeat visit relationships, and the authority to determine commission fees belong to the platforms. There is no regional evidence demonstrating the direct reservation rates of Gyeongnam tourism businesses or the burden of platform fees. If reliance on external platforms expands over the next two to three years, the increase in tourists will not accumulate as an independent market asset for the region.  What flows down to the region is transaction volume, but the local attribution of customer relationships remains unconfirmed.

Tongyeong, Geoje, and Namhae are nationally recognized coastal destinations and possess relatively high accommodation indicators. Goseong, Sacheon, and Hadong possess coastal, historical, and leisure resources, but their recognition as representative accommodation destinations and the density of tourism facilities are relatively low. Even within the South Coast, the roles of destinations and transit points are differentiated. There is a lack of evidence comparing tourist movement and accommodation conversion between cities and counties using the same criteria. If large-scale investments centered on Tongyeong proceed between 2026 and 2028, it will be delayed to determine whether the outcome of stays will spread to surrounding areas or become more concentrated.  The internal gap within the South Coast is a difference in the power to be selected as an accommodation destination, rather than the possession of tourism resources.

Tongyeong and Geoje combine tourism with the shipbuilding industry, Namhae and Hadong with nature and recreation, Goseong with dinosaurs and family tourism, and Sacheon with air and maritime transportation. While these diverse purposes of visit form the basis for wide-area stay packages, actual linked purchases and inter-city travel rates have not been verified. A gap remains between thematic diversity and the integration of tourism itineraries. If city and county brands operate independently for two to three years, tourists will consume only one destination and return.  The multi-core tourism resources of the South Coast have not yet been connected into multi-stay itineraries.

Islands and remote coastal areas possess strong natural landscapes but are at a disadvantage compared to urban tourist destinations in terms of public transportation frequency, nighttime return travel, medical and safety services, and off-season operations. Even with a high volume of visitors, the available time slots and seasons for stays are limited. There is insufficient evidence to support the impact of flight cancellations, weather conditions, and traffic waiting times on accommodation cancellations and reduced consumption. As climate change and labor shortages intensify between 2026 and 2028, the actual operating days of remote tourist destinations will decrease.  Spatial irreversibility manifests first in areas with low accessibility, leading to reduced seasonal operations and the departure of operators.

Large-scale investments, including 1.1 trillion won for the Tongyeong Complex Marine Leisure Tourism City and 58.9 billion won in state funding for the Southern Region Wide-Area Tourism Development, have entered the detailed design and commercialization stages. The facility layouts and operational methods decided at this stage will fix the future lodging, nightlife, and consumption patterns of tourists. The criteria linking investment progress with the outcomes of the stay economy are still incomplete. If consumption patterns are modified after the design is finalized between 2026 and 2028, additional government funding and private sector coordination costs will increase.  Currently, the focus is less on completing the facilities and more on designing the irreversible pathways of the stay economy.

While Namhae and Geoje exhibit long lengths of stay and high accommodation indicators, Namhae's tourism activity expenditure stood at only 7.1%. The first transition from visitors to overnight guests has occurred in some regions, but the second transition—turning overnight guests into consumers of high-value experiences—remains incomplete. If this second transition is delayed for two to three years, an increase in accommodation facilities will heighten price competition and reliance on seasonal demand. The current stage of the "Golden Time" is not about securing length of stay, but about securing regional value per hour of stay.

In 2027, the General Assembly of the Global Cities Tourism Promotion Organization is scheduled to be held in Gimhae, and tourism development projects in the southern region will be expanded. While international and regional exposure is increasing, there is a lack of multilingual evidence regarding booking, transportation, and payment for foreigners and independent travelers to move between cities and counties on the southern coast. If international events and regional investments conclude as isolated incidents between 2026 and 2028, foreign tourist routes will remain confined to gateway cities such as Busan. The condition for the end of the Golden Time is not a decrease in visitors, but rather a state where the bookable routes connecting gateway cities to the southern coast remain unfixed.
 

12-1. Golden Time Application Case in Basic Local Governments ① — Tongyeong City

Tongyeong possesses a complex marine leisure tourism city project with a total budget of 1.1 trillion won, Hallyeohaesang National Marine Park, a cable car, Gangguan, Dipirang, and island tourism. However, publicly released data from 2023 showed approximately 16 million annual visits, a 1.5% increase in the ratio of overnight visitors, and a 0.2% decrease in the length of stay. This confirms a structural issue where the length of stay does not automatically increase even when visits and accommodations rise. There are currently no outcomes linking the investment in large-scale projects with additional accommodation, nighttime consumption, or inter-island travel. If the project design for 2026–2028 focuses on consumption within marine leisure facilities, the diffusion pathways to existing downtown areas, islands, and commercial  districts will narrow. Tongyeong’s "Golden Time" is determined not by the scale of facilities, but by where new tourists spend their second night and second time. ( Tongyeong Shinmun , Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Council Administrative Audit )

12-2. Golden Time Application Cases in Basic Local Governments ② — Namhae-gun

Namhae recorded an average stay of 1,490 minutes, an overnight stay ratio of 22.2% relative to visitors, 78.4% of overnight travelers, and 57.1% of repeat visitors according to the survey. While the foundation for extended stays and repeat visits has already been established, tourism activity spending remained at 7.1%, shopping spending at 9.8%, shopping satisfaction at 3.90 points, and satisfaction with destination prices at 3.89 points. A gap is identified where natural scenery drives accommodation, but selective consumption does not follow. If new reasons for purchase are not formed for repeat visitors between 2026 and 2028, visitor loyalty and local added value will become disconnected.  Namhae's "Golden Time" is not the period of simply retaining tourists longer, but the period of converting the time of existing visitors into experiences, products, and local income. ( Namhae County Tourism Council , Namhae Times )

Large-scale tourism investments fix the location, scale, operational rights, and traffic routes of facilities for the long term. If the 1.1 trillion won Tongyeong project and the Southern Region Wide-Area Tourism Development are finalized without indicators regarding the economy of stay, it will be difficult to modify visitor flows after completion. Evidence of local commercial districts and operators' participation in the supply chain is also still lacking. If the operational structure becomes fixed within two to three years, an irreversibility occurs where revenue remaining in the region is limited, even if the number of tourists increases.  What is being missed is not the tourists, but the right to design consumption routes that will be repeated for decades to come.

The evidence that 57.1% of tourists in Namhae are repeat visitors signals that a repeat market already exists. If new experiences, products, and urban travel are not generated for repeat visitors, they will merely revisit familiar tourist destinations, and average spending will stagnate. The composition of consumption by the number of repeat visits and the purchase rate of new experiences remain unconfirmed. If the repeat market becomes entrenched in simple revisiting between 2026 and 2028, the cost of creating new high-value demand will increase.  The market assets currently being lost are the next purchases of existing customers, rather than those of new tourists.

Island and coastal tourism operators are simultaneously exposed to seasonal demand, weather, labor shortages, and platform fees. If an increase in tourists does not translate into year-round revenue, business closures and service reductions during the off-season repeat themselves, which in turn lowers the attractiveness of staying in the area. There is no evidence linking operator survival rates with seasonal revenue. If the number of operating days and operators decreases over two to three years, a service ecosystem that is difficult to restore through facility investment disappears.  The irreversible loss to South Coast tourism is not natural resources, but the departure of local operators who would otherwise operate during the night and off-season.

The long length of stay in Namhae and Geoje, Namhae's 57.1% revisit rate, and Tongyeong's night tourism and large-scale investment projects are evidence that a real market foundation exists to verify the stay economy. However, the connection between time and consumption following accommodation is incomplete. If the accommodation, nighttime activities, next-day movement, and consumption by industry of the same tourists are linked between 2026 and 2028, the initial baseline of the stay economy will be formed.  The greatest asset currently available is the time data of tourists already staying, rather than new tourism facilities.

The seven cities and counties along the southern coast possess distinct purposes of visit, including nature, history, leisure, industry, and gastronomy. While individual destinations exist, there is no evidence of linked purchasing or movement between cities. Once actual travel routes are verified within two to three years, it will be possible to determine whether a one-night stay in a single city or county has expanded to two or three nights across the entire southern coast.  Currently, the available regional asset is not the sum of tourist attractions, but rather a single additional stay between cities and counties.

Tourism data labs, card spending, reservation data, city and county status surveys, and local business revenue exist separately. Because they are not connected by the same standards, a gap remains that prevents the comparison of the effects of each project. Once baselines are established for 2026–2028, it will be possible to determine spending per hour of stay, attribution to local businesses, and additional purchases after repeat visits, regardless of the number of visitors.  The institutional asset available now is not promotional performance, but evidence to halt or modify investment projects.

AX response is not limited to the automation of tourist attraction recommendations and promotions.  It is a structure that connects the sequence of visit → accommodation → night activities → next-day consumption → movement to another city/county → revisit → settlement with local businesses into a single Runtime. Even if the number of visitors increases, if consumption per hour of stay, tourism activity costs, and the local sales retention rate do not improve, it is not determined to be a transition to a stay-based economy.

The first application axes are Tongyeong and Namhae. Tongyeong tracks the spread of consumption in facilities, urban areas, and islands related to large-scale investment projects, while Namhae connects already secured accommodation and repeat visits with consumption of experiences, shopping, and local products. When extending the results from these two regions to Geoje, Goseong, Sacheon, and Hadong, the indicator definitions and data periods are maintained identically.

The condition for failure is not a decrease in visitors. It is a state where the length of stay and the number of overnight guests increase, but tourism activity spending remains stagnant, movement between cities and counties does not increase, and local businesses fail to accumulate net sales and direct customer relationships.

Destination Investment Opportunity + Stay-economy Conversion Risk

The southern coast is not a region unable to attract tourists. It is a region that fails to convert visits and stays into experiential consumption and repeat revenue for the entire region.

The current risk lies not in a shortage of tourism facilities, but in the fact that the design speed of large-scale investments outpaces the verification speed of the stay economy. If facilities are fixed first, the cost of subsequently altering tourists' timing and consumption patterns becomes significant.

The period from 2026 to 2028 is the Golden Time to verify Tongyeong's large-scale investments and the base for staying in Namhae and Geoje into actual regional economic results.

Final Judgment: Natural and Destination Competitiveness is High, Base for Stay in Some Regions is Above Average, Regional Mobility is Low, Diversity of Experiential Consumption is Low, Attribution of Regional Sales is Undeterminable, and Time Risk is High.

The verification order is Visit → Conversion to Accommodation → Night Consumption → Next Day Consumption → Movement to City/County → Revisit → Settlement by Local Business Operator . If any one of the visitors, duration of stay, or tourism consumption increases, it is not determined to be a stay economy.

Runtime Chain

Visitor Evidence → Stay → Night-time Activity → Cross-city Mobility → Local Spending → Repeat Visit

The structural gap in South Coast tourism cannot be captured solely by the explanation that tourists do not stay. Namhae and Geoje already possess long durations of stay and high accommodation indicators. However, tourism activity spending in Namhae stood at only 7.1%, and shopping spending at 9.8%.  An increase in the duration of stay and the formation of a stay economy are not the same phenomenon.

Staying at a hotel halts tourist movement but does not automatically expand the local economy. A stay becomes economically beneficial only when the time spent at night and the following day leads to paid experiences, culture, leisure, local products, or travel to other cities or counties. Without this connection, a long stay ends with essential consumption concentrated on hotel rooms and restaurants.

Therefore, the actual competitiveness of South Coast tourism is determined not by the number of visitors or the number of days they stayed, but by how much revenue is distributed among the local businesses during their stay . If large-scale investments in Tongyeong and the accommodation infrastructure in Namhae and Geoje fail to create this structure, the South Coast will remain a region that is a stay-type tourist destination but has a weak stay economy.

Golden Time Thesis — The Golden Time for the South Coast from 2026 to 2028 is not a period to keep tourists for one more night, but a period to transform the night and the following day of existing tourists into experiences, transportation, and revenue for local businesses. If this connection is formed, Tongyeong, Geoje, Goseong, Sacheon, Namhae, and Hadong will become a single economic zone for overnight stays. If it is not formed, even if large-scale facilities and guests increase, the tourists' time will not remain in the local economy.