▲ Gyeongnam Goseong Dinosaur World Expo Organizing Committee / Chairman Duheon Baek

(PowerKorea) Dinosaurs are reptiles and are known to be extinct between 145 million and 65 million years ago. Some of the popular names known to us are tyrannosaurus, triceratops, pterodactyl and stegosaurus. In South Korea, many traces are remained in South Gyeongsang Province where dinosaur footprints were found for the first time in the nation. Around 5,000 footprints have been found in the province and Sangjokam County Park and the Goseong Dinosaur Museum, the first dinosaur museum in the nation, are where you can see the glimpses of their lives. 

In an effort to promote regional economy and to arouse people’s curiosity of these mystic animals, Goseong County introduced Dinosaur World Expo in 2006 and has been held it 4 times so far. This year, it is held in 5 years under the tile ‘Disappeared Dinosaurs Returns’ from October 1 to November 7 in and around the county with 5 stories to tell the visitors.

Five stories of dinosaur
The first story covers past and future of dinosaur in the Cretaceous period and the digitally created dinosaur contents are expected to give realistic dinosaur movements with cutting edge technologies. The second story invites visitors to the world of 170 real dinosaur fossils. The third story enlivens mood of visitors with fun dinosaur stories and interactive contents. The fourth story invites visitors to tourist spots of the county. The fifth story is about safety, hygiene and festivity. 

The main event spot Danghangpo Tourist Site will wow visitors with the dinosaur hill, exhibition halls and movie rooms. The dinosaur hill in particular is added with dinosaur sculptures this year and is to be created as if visitors can launch a dinosaur adventure themselves. The exhibition halls are equipped with 4D and 5D systems with the XR dinosaur live park installed here and there in the event areas. The activity will be applied appropriately in accordance with the quarantine rules. 

Due to the pandemic, more events will be taken place outside. The parade, for example, is consisted of 25 foreigner performers who have extensive experience and highest skills in the field. They arrived on August 14, went through 2 weeks of self-quarantine and are currently working on rehearsals. The scale of the parade is bigger than the previous event as well as its contents and quality. 

Delight of eating local food and resting
One can say that the highlight of a festival is to eat local food. If you agree on this, you might want to try dinosaur bread first of all. Then move onto dinosaur ice cream and coffee, snack and meals at various cafes and restaurants. After filling your stomach, you might want to take a rest a little bit to regather your energy to move around. You do not need to find a resting place as each one of it is located just where you want it to be here and there around the event areas. You might want to try the 114 meter long slide to arrive at the family picnic field made of upcycling materials. 

Promoting regional economy and upgraded quarantine
The more successful the event, the better the regional economy becomes. Goseong County is using the most of its natural recourses to do this and dinosaur is one of them but added contents driven by cutting edge technologies. Also run is a quarantine advisory panel consisted of 12 advisors. The panel is in charge of planning and implementing quarantine so that no visitors and staff can be infected by any possible virus spread. The safety number installed here and there around the event areas will show real time number of visitors and quarantine operations. 

Dinosaur Expo Vouchers
Dinosaur expo vouchers are issued and circulated during the festival. Visitors can obtain the vouchers by purchasing expo tickets and staying overnight in the county and the vouchers can be used in retail stores, traditional markets, gas stations and restaurants in the county from October 1 to November 30. 

Gyeongnam Goseong Dinosaur World Expo Organizing Committee chairman Duheon Baek says “We are determined to make the expo a big success through attention to detail preparation and operation. We hope the expo is enlivening the mood of pandemic-tired people.” 

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