Discover Gumi: How a New 4-Star Hotel Will Transform the City into a Tourist Destination

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Gumi City in North Gyeongsang is quietly reinventing itself — shifting from an industrial, “work-only” hub to a place people actually want to linger.
 
According to the city’s Tourism Data Lab, out-of-town visitors stayed an average of 2.99 nights in Gumi last year.
 
There are clear peaks tied to events: in May, when the national track-and-field championships took place, the average stay was 3.05 nights; October’s food festival brought averages up to 3.00 nights; and November’s ramen festival saw stays of about 2.84 nights.
 
To turn those one-night stopovers into longer getaways, Gumi is investing in more and better places to stay.
 
The city has secured a 4-star global-brand hotel in the First National Industrial Complex — a building with one basement level and 15 floors above ground and 211 rooms — with groundbreaking planned for May–June. Additional new hotel construction is also planned within the industrial zone.
 
Through last year, Gumi invested 700 million KRW (approximately $525,000) to revamp 52 aging lodging facilities, covering 1,129 rooms and exterior repairs.
 
This year the city plans to allocate 200 million KRW (approximately $150,000) to upgrade 77 rooms across 14 properties and refresh worn exteriors.
 
Downtown stays are getting a boost too: Gaksan Village Hotel, created by renovating five vacant houses on Geumridan-gil, opened last November and has been drawing younger travelers.
 
“We will expand lodging in phases so we can become a stay-oriented tourist city and prepare for an era of 10 million visitors,” a Gumi city official said.