Visitors from Nationwide on Word of Mouth… Immersive Experience Space Where Families Enjoy Together
"Even People Experiencing Metaverse for the First Time Can Easily"… Content Satisfaction Rate Exceeds 90%
Against the backdrop of the sea in Buan, North Jeolla Province, the 'Saemangeum Metaverse Experience Center,' Korea's first metaverse complex cultural space, is continuously attracting family visitors during the holiday period, solidifying its position as a landmark of Saemangeum.
According to the Saemangeum Metaverse Experience Center on the 6th, approximately 1,000 visitors came during the Golden Holiday from May 1 to 6, and all reservations were fully booked early, proving the enthusiastic interest.
In particular, character goods 'Saemo' (Saemangeum Metaverse Adventurer, the experience center's symbolic character) newly introduced to coincide with Children's Day received great acclaim. Saemo goods composed of dolls, stickers, and key rings, as the experience center's symbolic character, captivated both children and parents alike with the image of a cute character exploring virtual worlds.
Family Visitors Immersed in Virtual Worlds… Visiting from Nationwide on Word of Mouth
The three-story Saemangeum Metaverse Experience Center is composed of three exhibition halls totaling: 'Metaverse Life Hall,' 'Technology Hall,' and 'Virtual World Hall.' Here, abundant content that entire families can enjoy together is prepared including 360-degree rotating bobsled experiences through gyro VR, hologram displays floating in the air, and future city racing simulators.
The most popular space is the 'Virtual World Hall,' a cylindrical media art space of domestic largest scale at 12 meters high and 18 meters in diameter. Immersive content utilizing circle vision and multi-screen video leaves deep impressions on adults as well as children with gorgeous colors and imagination.
An experience center official conveyed that "since opening in 2023, visitors consistently reaching 90% of daily capacity come on weekends and holidays," and "the response was so enthusiastic during this holiday period too that family unit reservations were fully booked early."
"Even People Experiencing Metaverse for the First Time Can Easily"… Content Satisfaction Rate Exceeds 90%
According to satisfaction surveys from January to end of April this year, approximately 90% of respondents answered they were satisfied with the experience center content. Gyro VR, future racing and other interactive content, easy-to-understand docent explanations, and SNS photo zones were cited as main satisfaction factors.
By age group, those in their 40s were the most at 41% of total respondents, with those in their 10s–30s each accounting for 18%, showing diverse visitor age ranges visiting regardless of generational boundaries. Visitors' residences are also diversely distributed not only in Jeonju, Gunsan, and Iksan but also the metropolitan area including Seoul, Incheon, and Yongin, and it is analyzed that word-of-mouth effects are spreading nationwide.
Evolving into a Future-Type Content Space Combining Education and Tourism
The experience center is also receiving attention as an educational space to learn the principles and applications of metaverse technology beyond a simple entertainment space. The 2nd floor Technology Hall is designed to easily and intuitively explain the structure and principles of virtual convergence technologies including XR and hologram, stimulating children's curiosity.
The experience center can accommodate up to 200 people per day, safely operating divided into 2 groups of 50 people per session. Weekends operate by reservation, and weekdays run both on-site registration and reservations concurrently. Experience reservations can be made on the official website (https://smgmetaverse.or.kr).
A North Jeolla Special Self-Governing Province official stated "the Saemangeum Metaverse Experience Center is evolving into educational tourism content where families can experience and learn about technology and culture of the virtual world together rather than a simple play space," adding "we plan to continue improving visitor satisfaction through goods launches, diversification of exhibition content, and expansion of experience programs going forward."
