The combination of an integrated resort and a high-tech leisure theme park is expected to sharpen Yeongjongdo's appeal as a destination for extended-stay tourism.
Paradise City announced Tuesday that it signed an MOU with Kosdaq-listed DSM on Monday to expand their reach to new domestic and international customers. The signing ceremony was attended by Paradise City CEO Choi Jong-hwan and Executive Director Kim Jae-hwan, along with DSM CEO Kim Jong-seok and DSM Chief Marketing Officer Lee Yeon-woo.
The agreement aims to combine each company's tourism and leisure content with their respective marketing capabilities to grow demand for extended stays on Yeongjongdo and establish a new K-tourism hub near Incheon International Airport. The partnership targets the airport's roughly 70 million annual passengers, about 8 million transit travelers, and approximately 26 million potential customers in the Greater Seoul area.
Paradise City is a large integrated resort featuring 1,270 hotel rooms alongside a spa, theme park and art exhibition spaces. DSM operates 9.81 Park, a next-generation leisure platform combining AI and robotics technology, which has logged a cumulative 3 million visitors at its Jeju location. DSM plans to open 9.81 Park Incheon Airport — twice the size of the Jeju venue — near Paradise City in spring 2027, targeting more than 1 million visitors in its first year.
The two facilities face each other across the Paradise City station on Incheon's maglev line, giving them a geographic advantage that allows visitors to move between the two in a single itinerary. The pairing of Paradise City's cultural, arts and leisure infrastructure with 9.81 Park's technology-driven activities is expected to extend how long visitors stay and how far they roam across the area.
The two companies will use their combined customer bases and online and offline channels to reach new domestic and international visitors and pursue joint marketing aimed at foreign tourists. They plan to launch bundled products linking the content and benefits of both facilities, and will develop and operate joint overseas inbound sales, MICE events, group tours, education and experience programs, and co-branded campaigns. The partners also intend to cooperate on improving transportation access and convenience for visitors traveling between the two venues.
"We expect the meeting of Paradise City's cultural, artistic and entertainment strengths with 9.81 Park's dynamic activities to offer domestic and international guests a richer and more differentiated stay experience," a Paradise City official said.
"By combining the strengths of both companies, we will build a leading K-tourism hub centered on Incheon Airport that draws visitors from home and abroad, and continue to strengthen our global tourism competitiveness," a DSM official said.
terry@heraldcorp.com
