Seoul, Korea – The Geumsan World K-Insam Festival, boasting a history of over 1500 years in the birthplace of ginseng in Chungnam Geumsan, is about to kick off as a global health festival. Under the theme of ‘Mom, Be Happy,’ the festival will be held for ten days from October 6th to October 15th at Geumsan World Insam Expo Plaza and Downtown area in Geumsan.
The Geumsan World K-Insam Festival, held annually since 1981, celebrates its 41st edition. It has evolved from a local festival promoting specialty products into a cultural and health festival representing Korea.
Selected by the Korea Tourism Organization as one of the 2023 cultural tourism festivals, the Geumsan Ginseng Festival has solidified its position as not only one of the top 10 festivals nationwide designated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism but also a festival recognized by international organizations like the International Festivals & Events Association (IFEA World), which awarded it the Pinnacle Award for the 12th time. Particularly, in the post-COVID era, with heightened interest in healthy foods for immune support, it has transformed into a global festival where people worldwide come together to celebrate.
This year, the festival is particularly focused on highlighting Korean ginseng as the ultimate gift to convey happiness to mothers. It aims to promote five key messages: defeating aging, fatigue, and cancer that can afflict mothers, while enhancing their immunity and memory. To instill these messages, the festival is introducing new interactive game-based content that people worldwide can easily participate in, emphasizing the importance of these aspects for mothers’ well-being.
The festival uses various engaging activities to convey the effectiveness of ginseng, making it easy for both domestic and international tourists to understand. These activities include games where ginseng models are used to “beat” diseases with mallets, exhilarating Taekwondo performances to “defeat” disease targets, and even a fast-paced speech competition related to ginseng using Artificial Intelligence (AI). These interactive experiences aim to deliver the benefits of ginseng enjoyably and understandably.
The Future Robot Pavilion, which was highly popular among children last year, has been further enhanced this year. In addition to the battle between Ginseng Robots and Disease Robots, there will be Dance Robots dancing to K-pop, aiming to make ginseng more appealing and fun for children who may not be interested in ginseng’s benefits.
The utilization of ginseng is also expanding beyond its traditional medicinal image. It is being transformed into food products. Visitors can explore healthy cuisine made with ginseng and another specialty of Geumsan, perilla leaves, at the Geumsan Ginseng Perilla Leaf Food Corner. Moreover, there will be opportunities to taste convenient dishes enriched with ginseng through the Geumsan Ginseng Food Tech and Ginseng Food Truck.
The ginseng-themed experiential events have also been strengthened. Events like ginseng seed selection and weighting ginseng, which have consistently attracted high levels of participant engagement each year, have expanded significantly to accommodate even more tourists. The Health Experience Pavilion, targeting female visitors, will offer various beauty-related content related to ginseng, including red ginseng foot baths and red ginseng mask packs, providing a wide range of ginseng-related beauty experiences.
Amidst the growing global interest in K-Culture, there are plans to further boost the interest of the MZ generation through K-Pop and K-Dance. Additionally, a new content initiative will combine the iconic elements of Korean culture, such as Hanbok and Taekwondo, with ginseng, creating fresh content that harmonizes with the essence of Korea.
Furthermore, this year’s Geumsan World K-Insam Festival has been selected as the first recipient of the Reviving Local Festivals campaign, part of the Korean Tourism Organization’s initiative to improve local festival food. This support includes the development of festival food menus using local specialty products, training for residents to operate booths, and creating promotional videos. Through these efforts, the festival aims to revitalize its activities, boost the consumption of local specialty products, and contribute to revitalizing the local economy.
Media Contact
Company Name: Geumsan World K-Insam Festival Foundation
Contact Person: Nam Geun Woo
Email: Send Email
Country: South Korea
Website: http://www.insamfestival.co.kr/html/en/