Changwon street to have precast pavers with 23,000 foreigners' names

By Kim Se-jeong

A street in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, will be paved with 23,000 colorful precast pavers with the names of foreigners written on them.

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and the city government opened “Sangsang-gil” (Imagination Street) leading to the Chang-dong Art Village in the center of the city, Wednesday, with KTO CEO Jung Chang-soo and Changwon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo participating in the ceremony.

The project is part of the KTO’s initiative to promote tourism in the provincial cities.

The KTO collected applications in a “Write Your Name in Korea” campaign. Almost 300,000 applied from all around the world, including 26,000 Malaysians, 56,000 Filipinos, 26,000 Americans and 10,000 Chinese, and chose 23,000.

On the 155 meter street, only 30 meters have so far been paved with some 6,000 pavers. The rest will be done by the end of October, said a KTO official.

“I am excited to be here and see my name written on the street,” said Nida Nibilah, 20, an electrical engineering student from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

She was picked for the project and won a trip to Changwon. She had been to Korea before, but this was her first trip to the southern city. “I’d never heard about Changwon, but now that I’m here, I find it much more peaceful than Seoul. The art village is beautiful, and has a very nice environment,” she said.

“We chose Changwon because of its underestimated tourism potential. Chang-dong Art Village is an artistic-looking place for local artists. We hope this street will be a new tourist destination in the region and attract many tourists,” the official said.

The KTO is collecting more names on the campaign website, www.imagineyourkorea.com, and the names will be written on pavement in the future. A location will be decided later.

The project is one of the KTO’s efforts to revive the tourism industry, which has suffered due to a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in May.