RESCENE, Geoje City's First Celebrity Honorary Citizen...Increase in Tourist Inflow and Card Sales

Girl group RESCENE received an honorary citizenship certificate from Geoje City, Gyeongnam. RESCENE became the first celebrity to be named the 70th honorary citizen of Geoje City. Geoje City announced on the 26th that it awarded the honorary citizenship certificate to RESCENE at Hanwha Resort Geoje Belvedere on the 24th. Earlier, the city council approved the proposal to select RESCENE as an honorary citizen at the 2nd plenary session of the 265th extraordinary meeting on the 9th of last month. RESCENE raised awareness of Geoje through the ’Geoje Yaho’ meme, which went viral online last year, and the fact that member Won is from Geoje also strengthened the connection. Since being appointed as a Geoje City promotional ambassador in May, they have participated in various promotional activities. Geoje City explained that RESCENE contributed to promoting Geoje through diverse content and media, expanding the image of Geoje as a young and vibrant tourist city. In fact, an analysis by Gyeongnam Big Data within the Gyeongnam Research Institute, using SK Telecom’s floating population data and NH Nonghyup Card sales data, showed that since the ’Geoje Yaho’ meme gained attention and RESCENE was appointed as a promotional ambassador in May, tourist inflow and local consumption have increased. In particular, the number of tourists aged 10 to 20 from other regions visiting Geoje increased by 6.6% compared to the same period last year from late July to early August, the summer vacation season this year, and card sales around Deokpo Beach, which RESCENE visited, nearly doubled. At the award ceremony, Geoje Mayor Byun Gwang-yong said, ″I am grateful for the continuous promotional activities carried out with deep affection for Geoje,″ and added, ″Based on this good relationship, we will widely promote Geoje’s beautiful tourist resources and diverse attractions nationwide and make Geoje a city that more people want to visit.″ Geoje City also announced that it ranked second in the city brand reputation in South Korea in August, following Seoul, according to the Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute.