Gapyeong County Draws Nearly 3.7 Million Tourists Last Year...One in Two Visited Jarasum Island

Gapyeong County Draws 2.01 Million Visitors to Jarasum Garden

First Local Garden Registered in Northern Gyeonggi

Hosting the 2027 Gyeonggi Garden Culture Expo

Aiming for “National Garden” Status... Expecting New Vitality for the Local Economy

The tourism landscape of Gapyeong County, Gyeonggi Province (Governor Seo Taewon), is being redrawn around Jarasum Island. The Jarasum Garden has established itself as the region's leading tourist destination by attracting 54% of all visitors last year, thereby driving local tourism. Nearly 3.7 million people visited Gapyeong’s major tourist attractions last year. Of these, more than half visited Jarasum Garden. Whereas Jarasum was once mainly known for its music festivals and camping grounds, it is now recognized as the central axis driving tourism in Gapyeong.

Scenes from the 2026 Jaraseom Spring Flower Festa. Provided by Gapyeong County

According to Gapyeong County’s recently released “Key County Statistics as of June 2026,” a total of 3,696,559 people visited the county’s major tourist sites in 2025. Of these, visitors to Jarasum Garden—including those with free admission—reached 2,011,698, accounting for 54.4% of the total. This means that more than one out of every two tourists to Gapyeong visited Jarasum.

Following Jarasum, the most popular destination was The Garden of Morning Calm, which drew 534,969 paying visitors. This was followed by Begonia New Garden with 252,530 visitors, Petite France with 238,457, Morning Calm Family Zoo with 111,500, Gapyeong Sheep Ranch with 96,628, Gapyeong Rail Park with 88,476, and Jarasum Campground with 78,793 visitors.

From the “Festival Island” to the “Garden Island”

Jarasum is an island of approximately 610,000 square meters, located in the Bukhan River. In the past, it was little more than barren land prone to flooding during heavy rain, but it first gained prominence with the launch of the Jarasum Jazz Festival in 2004. Since then, it has been transformed into a tourism destination blending camping, music, and flower festivals.

Recently, “garden” has emerged as the new core content of Jarasum tourism. By changing the flowers and plants each season, and linking natural scenery, walking trails, and cultural events, Jarasum has evolved beyond simple sightseeing into a destination where visitors can stay and relax.

The transformation accelerated in October of last year when Jarasum was designated as Gyeonggi-do’s second, and the region’s first, “local garden.” This designation enables Jarasum to offer institutional support so that it can grow into a garden tourist site that operates year-round, rather than one that only draws visitors during festivals.

Gapyeong County is also pursuing the “Jarasum Garden Masterplan Establishment Service,” to develop the entire island as one vast garden. The initiative aims to systematically connect gardens, walking trails, cultural venues, and waterfront spaces within the island, while simultaneously fostering tourism, culture, landscaping, and horticultural industries.

Scenic view of Jarasum Island. Provided by Gapyeong County

Hosting the 2027 Gyeonggi Garden Culture Expo

Jarasum has also been chosen as the venue for the “15th Gyeonggi Garden Culture Expo” in 2027. Gapyeong County plans to use the expo as an opportunity to raise the profile of the Jarasum local garden on a national scale.

Instead of gardens serving as temporary exhibition spaces used only during the event, the goal is to create gardens that will remain as tourist assets after the expo ends. By adding curated gardens, participatory gardens, and cultural and experiential programs to Jarasum’s existing flower gardens and waterside landscapes, the county aims to make it a nationally renowned garden tourism destination.

The reason Gapyeong County is focusing so much effort on Jarasum is to reshape the local tourism structure. Although Gapyeong is located near the Seoul metropolitan area and is rich in natural attractions, such as mountains, rivers, and arboretums, it has long suffered from a high proportion of day-trippers. Because visitors' stays are generally short, the local economy has not fully benefited from tourism in areas like lodging, dining, and shopping despite consistently high visitor numbers.

By linking Jarasum Garden, the campground, the jazz festival and nearby attractions, Gapyeong hopes to extend the length of visitors’ stays. If popular tourist destinations such as The Garden of Morning Calm, Petite France, and Begonia New Garden can be combined into a single tourism course, it is expected that tourist demand will spread throughout the greater Gapyeong area.

The Ultimate Objective: National Garden

The ultimate goal for Gapyeong County is to secure designation for Jarasum as a “National Garden.” The plan is to accumulate operational experience and achievements as a local garden, while building up the necessary facilities, professional staff, and management systems to nurture Jarasum as Korea’s representative garden tourism site.

The county expects that national garden status will enhance the Jarasum brand and provide greater support for garden management and the expansion of the tourism infrastructure. This would also create new jobs in landscaping and horticulture, and enable the county to establish a garden industry ecosystem involving local farmers and small business owners.

Scenes from the 2026 Jaraseom Spring Flower Festa. Provided by Gapyeong County

There are also challenges to address. The county must disperse the influx of tourists currently concentrated on Jarasum to the commercial district in Gapyeong town and other destinations, and expand transportation, parking, and amenities to accommodate rising visitor numbers. Disaster prevention and ongoing garden maintenance, particularly given the island’s vulnerability to heavy rain and flooding, will be key issues to resolve as Jarasum pursues national garden status.

A Gapyeong County official commented, “The 3.7 million visitors to our major tourist attractions last year is a meaningful achievement that demonstrates the competitiveness of Gapyeong tourism. By converging garden culture and the tourism industry around the Jarasum local garden, we plan to build a year-round, stay-oriented tourism city and pursue the creation of a national garden to inject new vitality into the regional economy.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.