Expo to Make Yeosu an International City
By Jane Han
Korea Times Correspondent
PARIS ― The moment of festivity was sweet when Yeosu won the host right for the 2012 World Expo Tuesday morning (KST), but organizers say they already have enough work cut out for them to make the international fair a lasting success.
Unlike the Olympic Games, which is given about a decade of preparation time, there are only four years left for the small southwestern port city to get ready to welcome more than eight million visitors from home and abroad.
Building infrastructure including railroads, roads and an airport; opening new accommodation and service businesses; constructing the expo complex and materializing the ``Yeosu Project,'' must begin soon in order to complete preparations on time.
However, before anything else, bidding committee officials note that an organizing committee must first be created under the law in order to commence official preparations.
``The committee will most likely be formed by February, but a special bill must first be passed in order to approve the committee,'' said Kim Suk-goo, a spokesman of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, adding that the remainder of the year will be spent on passing the special bill.
To get the various construction projects going, an estimated 1.7 trillion won is to be funneled into constructing the expo complex that spans over 400 million square meters, while 12 trillion won has been budgeted to build the necessary infrastructure, including railroads, roads and airport, by 2011.
Officials are planning to create an eye-catching establishment, comparable to Paris' Eiffel Tower that was built for the 1889 expo, to attract tourists for years to come.
``Four years isn't all that long, so it's critical that we get everything done on time and keep ourselves on schedule,'' said Kim Young-suk, the planning director of the bidding committee.
Although the organizers may be pressed for time, there are few complaints, as the world fair is expected to bring similar economic benefits as the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup.
The Korean Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade expects the expo to create over 90,000 new jobs, generate production of over 10 trillion won and another 4 trillion won in added value for the city.
The institute estimated visitors' expenditure at around 4.3 trillion won during their three-month stay starting May, and added that some 74 percent of the total will be spent in the southwestern Jeolla Provinces.
Looking back to the 1993 Daejeon Expo, observers estimate that Yeosu's event will bring forth about three times the economic benefit.
Aside from monetary benefits, the supporters of the exhibition say the event will also unite regions that are divided by invisible borders.
``South Jeolla Province areas, which have fallen behind other areas in the region, will be given a chance to develop through the rush of tourism businesses,'' Yeosu Mayor Oh Hyeon-seop told reporters after the 142nd Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) 142nd General Assembly announced the southern coastal city as the host for the 2012 World Expo.
Yeosu, which lost to Shanghai in the 2010 World Expo bid, in its second attempt won by a slight margin of 77-63, to Morocco's Tangier in the final round of voting. The third candidate, Poland's Wroclaw, was eliminated in the first round with 13 votes.
Yeosu's win is the third world-event hosting right Korea has successfully grabbed this year, following the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and 2011 Daegu World Athletics Championships.