The World On arirang

Part 1. Rediscovery of Rural Villages

Simonswald was a poor village in the mountain area before it became a tourist attraction in 2000. And it all started when Simonswald started marketing with five other villages nearby with the theme of “green tourism.” Green tourism is about enjoying the natural environment and experiencing the local culture by interacting with people. Not only does green tourism provide an environment-friendly vacation for urbanites, but it also vitalizes the stagnated local economy so it has been under the spotlight in Europe for a long time. We look at the process of a rural village becoming a tourist attraction by looking at Germany and France who discovered the possibility of green tourism in rural villages in advance.

Part 2. Revolutionizing Green Tourism

The local residents’ trace of life, culture, lifestyle, and industry can become a better resource for green tourism. The residents in Gruyere, located on the skirts of Alps in Switzerland, built a cheese factory together and now many Europeans come to visit their village to watch the cheese-making and chocolate-making process. In Part 2, we look at many incidents of European nations that have developed the local industry, culture, and history in creating a green tourism attraction.