"Stayed Longer and Spent More"... Living Population Visiting Gimje Ranked No. 1 in Jeonbuk

Repeat-visit rate of 53% and average length of stay of 4.3 days
Average card spending per person in the staying population: 156,000 won

Visitors to Gimje City return more often than those to other areas, stay longer, and actively spend money locally. Gimje ranked first among population-decline areas in Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province on all four indicators: repeat-visit rate, average length of stay, average number of overnight stays, and average card spending per person in the staying population.

Indicators for Analyzing the 2025 Living Population in Depopulation Areas of Jeonbuk. Provided by Gimje City Hall.

According to Gimje City on October 28, the city’s repeat-visit rate within three months was 53.0%, according to the “2025 Status of the Living Population in Jeonbuk’s Population-Decline Areas,” released by the Honam Regional Data Office on October 22. This was 17.7 percentage points higher than the Jeonbuk average of 35.3%, the highest among the province’s 10 population-decline areas.

The living population refers to the registered population, including people registered as residents and foreign nationals, plus people staying in an area for purposes such as commuting, attending school, or tourism. The staying population refers to people who spend at least three hours a day in the area at least once a month.

Visitors’ length of stay and local spending also exceeded the Jeonbuk averages. The average length of stay in Gimje was 4.3 days, 1.3 days longer than the Jeonbuk average of 3.0 days. The average number of overnight stays was also higher, at 5.0 days, compared with the Jeonbuk average of 3.4 days.

Average card spending per person in the staying population was 156,000 won, about 32% more than the Jeonbuk average of 118,000 won. The staying population also accounted for 33.4% of total card spending, higher than the Jeonbuk average of 31.2%.

The statistics show that Gimje is competitive in attracting repeat visits, encouraging longer stays, and generating local spending.

Gimje’s average monthly living population in 2025 was about 330,000, roughly four times its registered population. The figures are significant because they confirm a pattern in which visitors not only come in large numbers but also return, stay longer, and spend locally.

Gimje City plans to strengthen cooperation between relevant departments and private organizations so that an increase in visitors can help revitalize the local economy. The city will analyze policy outcomes using data on visits, stays, and spending, and develop ways to link these efforts to increased sales for small businesses.

Gimje Mayor Jeong Seong-ju said, “These statistics show that visitors to Gimje return, stay relatively long, and actively spend money in the area. We will continue to strengthen Gimje’s own living population policies to build a virtuous cycle in which visits lead to stays, and stays lead to spending and repeat visits.”

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