Korea
Building bridges
EW takes a trip to South Korea, where the spirit of international
collaboration is powering a thriving exhibition industry
EW recently embarked on a tour of
South Korea’s event venues, taking in
exhibition spaces across Seoul, Busan,
Gyeongju and Incheon.
Our trip kicked off in Seoul,
the nation’s capital – a vibrant,
technologically advanced and
highly organised metropolis. Seoul
is a wealthy city, and its greater
metropolitan area is home to 9.75m
people, almost a fifth of the population
of South Korea.
Coex – South Korea’s busiest
convention and exhibition centre
– finished constructing its latest
attraction here in 2017: a public
library containing a 13-metre tall
bookshelf and 50,000 books. The
Starfield Library is located in the
lower floors of a building which
offers 55 meeting rooms with
thumb-print recognition, as well as
cafes, restaurants, a casino and two
connected hotels.
As EW visits, the very early stages
of construction are also beginning for
the new, 105-floor Hyundai Global
Business Center, which is located just
outside Coex. It is set to finish in 2023,
containing a 70,000sqm convention
centre with six floors. These new
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
facilities will add even more spectacle
to the already bustling, world-famous
Gangnam district.
Over in the coastal city of Busan,
on the country’s south-eastern tip, we
also find an exhibition stronghold.
The Busan Exhibition and Convention
Centre (BEXCO) is an important venue
for the city, having played host to 4.4m
visitors in 2018 across a large number
of conferences and exhibitions. It
contains a total 26,000sqkm of event
space, and is currently in the process
of bidding for the 2030 World Expo.
International Incheon
The north-western city of Incheon,
which was host of the 2019 Korea
MICE Expo and contains the country’s
main gateway airport, is full of the
spirit of international collaboration.
The city’s Songdo district, full of
shiny new skyscrapers and cultural
centres, is a perfect example of
how foreign business can lead to
economic prosperity. The South
Korean government has designated
the region as a tax haven, called the
Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ).
International businesses who move
their headquarters to IFEZ are not
Right:
The Songdo
District in
Incheon
Incheon’s
Songdo
district,
full of
shiny new
skyscrapers
and cultural
centres, is
a perfect
example of
how foreign
business
can lead to
economic
prosperity.
Below:
The 21,380
metre-long
Incheon Bridge
taxed, as part of an incentive to drive
growth in this upcoming region of the
country.
The MICE Bureau at the Incheon
Tourism Organisation says
international events business is at
the top of the agenda in the region.
A spokesperson commented: “This
business has great importance to
Incheon, since it is the place where
MICE first started in Korea. Our
country’s first expressway, and it’s
first western-style hotel, were based
in Incheon.
“It is Incheon City’s ultimate goal
to become a representative events
destination in Northeast Asia, with
an international business-friendly
environment. Events business can
stimulate the local economy with its
huge economic impact.”
The city of Incheon serves as
a microcosm for South Korea
as a whole, demonstrating how
the country has managed to
build a thriving economy, and
a varied exhibition industry, by
working closely with international
governments and businesses.
International organisers looking
to run an event in South Korea
are spoiled for choice. This wealth
of exhibition options is the result
of the country’s open-door policy
to international business, and
demonstrates the power of the
industry to serve as a catalyst for
development.
Issue 5 2019
81