While the timing of spring flower blooming is accelerating due to climate change, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, has decided to move up the timing of hosting the “Jinhae Gunhangje Festival” from 2020.
Jinhae Gunhangje Festival is one of Korea’s most popular annual spring festivals.
In addition, the city plans to drastically enhance “killer contents” using Admiral Yi to foster the military service as a global festival.
Admiral Yi Sun-Sin (April 28, 1545 – December 16, 1598) was a Korean naval commander famed for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Imjin war in the Joseon Dynasty, who became an exemplar of conduct for both the Koreans and Japanese.
Admiral Yi is considered one of Korea’s greatest heroes of all time. Koreans look upon Yi as a man of courage, perseverance, strength, self-sacrifice, intellect, and loyalty to his country.
Changwon City recently held a general evaluation report on the “57th Jinhae Gunhangje Festival” and the “2019 Jinhae Naval Music Festival” and agreed with participants that this year’s cherry blossom season should be adjusted due to climate change, about a week earlier than usual. Merchants also shed tears as most cherry blossoms fell in the middle of last year’s Jinhae Gunhangje Festival, leading to a sharp drop in tourists at the same time.
“If we move up the time to hold the Jinhae Gunhangje Festival from next year by three to four days from this year, the timing of the full bloom of cherry blossoms and the period of the Jinhae Gunhangje Festival will be generally the same,” the Changwon city government said, hinting at adjusting the timing of the event.
Changwon City considers March 27, 2020 as a likely date to host the Jinhae Gunhangje Festival. The day was known as Friday, the best time for weekend tourists to visit. Also, in 2021, March 27 is set to coincide with the weekend when crowds gather for Saturday, and March 27 is emerging.
Since the merger, Jinhae Gunhangje Festival has been held for 10 days with the date fixed from April 1 to 10, starting on March 31 every year, regardless of the time of the opening. Last year’s (2019) Jinhae Gunhangje Festival is faster than usual, and the city has started to take full-scale guest visits since March 25. The accumulated number of visitors until April 10 was tallied at 4.12 million. The survey found that 450,000 foreign visitors visited the country, up 200,000 from the previous year.
