A "receipt admission system" that lets visitors use park golf courses without a reservation by submitting receipts worth 50,000 won or more from restaurants, lodgings, or souvenir purchases in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, is making a meaningful contribution to revitalizing local shopping districts.
According to Gumi City on the 27th, the receipt admission system allows out-of-town visitors who do not reside in Gumi to use park golf courses without a reservation process by submitting receipts used from the day before through the day of use, on a per-team basis of one team (up to four people).
It was introduced on a trial basis in May last year.
Gumi is known as a "mecca of park golf," with a total of nine park golf courses, including North Gyeongsang Province's largest with 288 holes and three officially certified courses.
However, out-of-town visitors can reserve only 15 teams per day at each course, making reservation competition fierce during peak seasons.
The receipt admission system began after a civil servant, taking note of this, proposed an idea to broaden the number of out-of-town visitors while at the same time inducing local consumption.
Since its introduction, positive effects have emerged in both visitor numbers and local spending.
As a result of the trial operation at five park golf courses in towns and townships, a monthly average of 960 people submitted receipts to use the courses, and consumption confirmed through receipts reached a monthly average of 12 million won.
Since May this year, the receipt admission system has been expanded to eight courses, excluding a park golf course for people with disabilities.
Just one month into the expanded operation, the monthly average number of visitors doubled to 1,920, and the scale of local spending reached a monthly average of 25 million won, achieving tangible results.
Buoyed by this popularity, the city plans to pursue a two-day, one-night park golf cultural program linking lodging, dining, and tourism, while also expanding the types of businesses eligible for park golf local spending receipts.
"We will continue to discover ideas that provide practical help to local commercial districts and reflect them in policy," Gumi Mayor Kim Jang-ho said.
