Kangwon Land Aims to be World-Class Global Integrated Resort by 2032

Kangwon Land Acting President Choi Cheol-gyu. (Photos: Kangwon Land)

Kangwon Land held “K-HIT Project Town Hall Meeting” with Kangwon Land executives, staffers, working-level officials of four cities and counties, and K-HIT Project consultants.

The latest K-HIT Project Town Hall Meeting took place on April 25 at High1 Grand Hotel to share intermediate outcomes and gather diverse views among participants to reflect them in the project before the “K-HIT Project master plan” is to be announced.

The K-HIT Project, short for “Korean High1 Integrated Tourism,” aims to raise the portion of the non-casino business to 30 percent and the number of inbound tourists by 10-fold by 2032. Kangwon Land envisions being a world-class global integrated resort by 2032.

A view of the latest K-HIT Project Town Hall Meeting that took place on April 25 at High1 Grand Hotel.

Of late, Kangwon Land appears to find favor from political circles.

Each candidate in the recent presidential election promised to provide support to Kangwon Land’s global integrated resort plan as a public pledge of developing areas where mines have been closed.

Currently, Kangwon Land needs to spend a combined 200 billion won to implement the K-HIT Project, and to this end, Kangwon Land, a public entity, is required to undergo a preliminary feasibility study.

The local community and Kangwon Land have strongly demanded that political circles exempt the feasibility study.

A bird’s eye-view of the ”Landmark Zone,” announced during the latest K-HIT Project Town Hall Meeting.

Acting President Choi’s Casino Regulatory Reform Efforts Pay Off

Acting President Choi Cheol-gyu’s efforts through communication and cooperation have borne their first fruit: casino regulatory reform.

In September 2024, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism paved the way for legally allowing Kangwon Land to set up a second casino, as Kangwon Land had wished to ease restrictions on casino operation for 14 years.

The move allows the installation of additional 50 tables and 250 game machines and expanding of the business area by 37 percent more than currently.

The betting cap in the foreigners-only areas will rise from 300,000 won to 300 million won to attract more foreigners.

In a related development, Kangwon Land held the 217th Board of Directors’ Meeting in December and gave the go-ahead to a plan to open a second casino in accordance with a change in casino business, approved by MCST.

The second casino project will cost 179.6 billion won and it is to be dedicated in December 2027.

The casino is to be set up on a combined area covering 16,161 sq. meters on the first and second basement floors at the Kangwon Land Main Tower, the former Theme Park.

Of the floor space area, 5,748 sq. meters will be set aside for a casino business area in which gaming devices, including 50 tables and 250 game machines will be realigned.

They were approved in September. The addition will see the casino’s space-per-person rise by 53 percent, thus creating a more pleasant gaming environment by easing density.

Other remaining space will be made available to install non-casino facilities, such as a shopping, a performance hall, and food and beverage outlets to offer differentiated content tailored to meet recent trends of integrated resorts.

Kangwon Land has seen its business performance keep on improving on the back of rising net profit and customer recovery compared to the pre-inauguration of Acting President Choi.

Diverse marketing strategies and aggressive efforts to attract foreigners, coupled with outside income effects, brought about the best-ever net profit and conducted a dividend of 1,170 won per share.

Kangwon Land posted 1,426.9 billion won in sales, 288.3 billion won in operating profit and 455.4 billion won in net profit in 2024 on a consolidated basis, the best-ever business performance.

A whole view of Kangwon Land.

In particular, Kangwon Land was evaluated to see outside growth on top of profit improvement on the back of its 2024 net profit, which soared 33 percent compared to the previous year.

The number of visitors to the resort stood at 4.52 million in 2024, the best-ever figure.

The average per paying use price soared 16 percent compared to the pre-pandemic era.

Thanks to Acting President Choi’s efforts to attract foreigners, Kangwon Land and High1 Resort saw foreign visitors jump 484 percent to 62,000 last year over the previous year.

Acting President Choi inaugurated the Overseas Marketing Team at the same time he took office and struck general sale agreements with foreign countries as part of his efforts to attract foreign visitors.

These efforts have paid off: Kangwon Land succeeded in hosting large-sized international events with foreigners participating, such as the Asia Model Festival, Gogo Ski Festival and Untangodo Skyrace.

Kangwon Land operates a casino in which Koreans are allowed to enter, so the company is regulated along with other gambling industry entities by the National Gambling Control Commission. Kangwon Land was given an “S” grade in 2024.

Kangwon Land fared well in terms of sales and in the evaluation of soundness as the company ranked 1st in an evaluation of nine institutions, including horseracing, bicycle racing and bull fighting.

Kangwon Land does not rest on the 2024 business performance, and with Acting President Choi taking the initiative, all staffers are devoting themselves to transforming Kangwon Land into a world-class global integrated resort.

Outcomes of an intermediate commissioned service of the K-HIT master plan showed that the “2032 world-class K-integrated resort vision” called for introducing global landmark facilities, building a competitive wellness resort and constructing “K-integrated leisure-sports park.”

“High1 Grand Dom,” a central space of an envisioned global integrated resort, would be a super-sized facility, measuring 100 meters in height with a new casino, landmark installations and a “Media Dome” and “Wall” inside, attracting participants’ attention.

Kangwon Land is to hold a session to reveal a finalized version of the K-HIT Project in September, reflecting things discussed at the latest town hall meeting.

Acting President Choi said, “The top priority of the K-HIT Project is to revitalize the economy of the closed mines area, the purpose of its establishment, and we will concentrate our capabilities to make Kangwon Land a global integrated resort creating added value as a blueprint for a 100-year company.”