fatigue. Among the many types of ginseng in the world, the Korean variety has gained world-wide popularity for its remarkable medicinal properties. Visitors can receive prescriptions from practitioners of herbal medicine during the festival in Kumsan for free.
5) Ginseng products
Tourists can buy many types of ginseng products at local five-day markets, shopping centers, and large scale ginseng and herb markets. The ginseng products include: granular and powered tea, tablets, capsules, soft drinks, liquid extracts, candies, liquor, cosmetics, shampoos, chewing gum, and cigarettes. Also they can visit ginseng plantations and factories to study its cultivation and processing.
6) Best Ginseng Contest
Among ginseng cultivated in the Kumsan area, the best quality ginseng is awarded a prize after an evaluation by a panel of judges. The shape, size, weight, and color of the ginseng are the major criteria of evaluation.
7) Ginseng Exhibition
Korean ginseng is exhibited with an explanation of its characteristics. It is also compared with the ginseng from China.
8) Garden Drama
Traditional dramas, which introduce the origin of ginseng are performed twice per day in gardens during the 5 days of the Kumsan Ginseng Festival.
3. Evaluation of the festival
1) Economic impact of the Festival
In 1996, the total number of participants at the festival reached about 300,000, which is about a 200% increase from the previous year. Among them, 72% are from out of town. The total number of foreign tourists was 1,540. The budget for the festival was US$600,000. However, the festival was able to generate more than US$12,000,000, again about a 200% increase from the previous year.
2) Visitor's satisfaction
A visitor survey with a sample of 405, reveals that the festival has improved significantly compared to the festival in 1994. The mean scores of major evaluation items of 1996 were all higher than those of 1994 and statistical analysis shows the differences are significant (Table 1).
One of the major factors for improvement could be the use of professional event firms. For major events such as the parade and garden dramas, the organizing committee made contracts with professional event firms.
3) Venue of major events
The venue of major events was moved to the major streets around the Kumsan ginseng market. The previous festivals used to be held at a huge playground in Kumsan, which was convenient for holding many events. However, it wasn't very accessible for visitors from outside of Kumsan. As the new venue of the festival in a major business district, it's much more accessible for visitors. Besides, visitors are able to feel more positively about Kumsan and motivated to buy ginseng related products. According to the visitor survey, 44% of the respondents purchased products on the spot.
4) Promotion of the festival
Besides the traditional means of promotion such as passing out brochures, diverse promotion tools are utilized. Several computers offering information are located in train stations of major cities. The festival is included on the webpage of Kumsan-gun to promote the festival through the Internet. Also KNTO (Korea National Tourism Organization) makes great effort to promote the festival by including the festival in KNTO's promotional brochures by utilizing existing networks.
To enhance the theme of the festival, festival logos are made and utilized in promotional materials. They are also used on T-shirts and wrapping papers. During the festival periods, the merchants and the festival organizers wear festival T-shirts to enhance the excitement of the festival.
IV. Lessons
Based on the review of the Korean government's basic strategies to boost the cultural tourism festivals in local communities and the case of Kumsan Ginseng Festival, I would like to summarize several lessons learned.
First, it should be noted that the quality of planning is very important. Planning needs to be started as early as possible so the festival plan reflects local people's opinions and allows time for feedback. The plan needs to be formulated from a long range perspective. The festival can't just happen. The components of a festival are diverse and components are interrelated. To make a festival successful one, patience and a long term approach is essential. In the plan, the target market of the festival, expansion strategies of accommodating facilities, intended images to be formulated through the festival, and promotion strategies need to be included in detail. The master plan for the festival also should be linked to the tourism master plan for the local community. The investment in the festival can not be effective without a growth in tourism in general. Even though the festival itself is attractive and well organized, the festival can't be successful without adequate tourism facilities such as hotels and information systems.
