164page

강원도 DMZ관광 활성화 방안 연구 - 146 - First, it is necessary to have DMZ registered as a UNESCO world heritage. It is also important to attract the participation of international organizations by strengthening the area's symbolic significance to ensure the success of its bid to become a global tourist spot. Additionally, to consolidate the symbolic significance of DMZ, a plan has to be made to fully utilize the three projects Gangwon currently promotes in the border regions, such as the Plaza of Peace in Cheolwon, the Hills of Peace and Life in Inje, and DMZ Museum in Goseong. Second, stories should be discovered and special guides should be trained to handle the diverse resources located widely in DMZ regions. It is a requisite to discover stories related to DMZ resources that may be valued as a world heritage, as well as to train tourist guides who will handle the storytelling and offer information about these resources to tourists. These steps are needed to transform tourism in the DMZ from its existing close-minded national security-oriented theme that focus on historical battlefields and other security-related spots, into a global tourist destination. Third, an organization should be created for the promotion of DMZ tourism whose goal is to develop, promote and market DMZ tourism programs. The said organization will also be the one to overcome problems that will emerge in the process of commercializing DMZ tourism resources both in the short and long term. In particular, developing ecological, cultural, historical, and agricultural field programs and planning and marketing these programs should be differentiated by tourist type. Fourth, tourism programs differentiated by five districts near the border should be developed to link DMZ tourism resources to the residents' income. This requires that local residents either develop programs by themselves or manage field trips. Therefore, it is necessary to offer residents specialized educational support for the successful development and management of such programs.