Tourism and politics of local identity: A case study of Mokpo, Korea

Despite being one of Korea's six major cities during the Japanese colonial era, Mokpo has declined to a small local city post-liberation. Since the establishment of the local government system, Mokpo has aimed to reinvent itself as a tourist destination. Over the past 20 years, the city has implemented six major tourism development and promotion projects, including night scenery lighting, a marine music fountain, urban regeneration of the old city center, a suspension cable car, hotel construction on Samhakdo Island, and branding Mokpo as a “romantic harbor city.” Throughout this process, there have been conflicts, competition, and cooperation with various civic and local interest groups. This research, based on related studies and Logan & Molotch's (2007) growth machine theory, analyzes how different groups formed growth and anti-growth coalitions and how they struggled over six key projects. Newspaper articles documenting these conflicts, competition, and cooperation were reviewed. To enhance reliability and validity, peer review and an interview with a local newspaper editor were conducted. The findings show that while the growth machine theory is useful in examining Mokpo's coalitions and their conflicts, it has limitations in fully explaining the phenomenon's complexity. The study concludes by discussing future research directions and the role of deliberative democracy in sustaining Mokpo's development as a tourist city.