Solving Regional Idle Space Problems Through AI-Integrated Tourism
Gyeongbuk Rural Regional Development Project Workshop
Finding Solutions to Solve Gyeongbuk's Idle Space Problems Through AI!
Why do exhibition halls and history museums that cost hundreds of billions of won sit empty, and how did closed schools and old government offices become landmarks where people gather with just content?
From June 18 to 19, 2026, the "2026 Gyeongbuk Province Rural Regional Development Project Managers Workshop" was held at the Komodo Hotel in Gyeongju. The event was hosted by Gyeongbuk Province and brought together approximately 95 local government officials, including 21 city and county division heads and team leaders, and the Korea Rural Community Corporation Gyeongbuk Headquarters. On the second day of the workshop, a special lecture was held by Lee Eun-young, Co-CEO of Unique Good Company, on the topic of "Creating Idle Space Landmarks in Gyeongbuk Through AI." This article summarizes the key points of the lecture for local government officials concerned with solving idle space problems and revitalizing their regions.
Why "Experience" Now — The More AI Advances, the More Experiential Content Shines
The way we consume content is rapidly shifting from text-based (Reading) to visual (Watching), and then to experiential (Participating). Beyond the stages of reading and scrolling, and watching streams, people now want to become the protagonist in a story and experience it firsthand. Netflix's venture into offline spaces with "Netflix House" also demonstrates this trend, showing that the key keyword of the coming era is "Experience (Age of Experience)."
Paradoxically, the more advanced AI technology becomes, the greater the value of offline experiences that technology cannot replace. This is precisely why now, when the tourism, education, and cultural content markets are being restructured toward experiential formats, is the opportunity for local governments to revitalize their space assets.
The Real Reason Why Exhibition Halls and History Museums with Hundreds of Billions in Budgets Sit Empty
It is a recurring phenomenon that public regional spaces across the country, with budgets ranging from hundreds of billions to 1.7 trillion won, experience a sharp drop in visitors after their first year of opening. Hardware-centric exhibition halls, history museums, and regional theme parks have a display-focused structure with low content density, resulting in insufficient interaction, and content created once is difficult to change. Spaces focused on media art have short stay times and fail to convey narratives. As a result, visitor attraction and repeat visit rates are low compared to the high construction costs.
The root of the problem is not population decline but the "absence of experience." Without irreplaceable experiences that captivate visitors, reasons to return, or experiences worth sharing, even the best facilities fall into disuse. More dangerous than a shrinking population is the decline in human interaction, and when spaces lose their role in gathering and connecting people, the local ecosystem weakens.
Realworld's Solution
Drawing people through content, not interior hardware
The core of Realworld, operated by Unique Good Company, is the "simultaneous space model." When content imbued with meaning and context (Content) is layered onto a physical space (Space), that place becomes a destination where people gather (Place). In other words, rather than building new spaces or undertaking major renovations, it's a method of creating visitor attraction through technology-based content.
The technology that operates here is "digital overlay." Without physical changes, the Realworld app and IoT controls redefine the meaning of spaces in real time. A single interior space can transform one day into a command center receiving orders, and another day into a secret room where clues to a mystery are hidden. Once a multipurpose space is set up, it can subsequently be continuously utilized as dozens of different stages simply by adding new content. Because it's hardware-free and content-driven, operational costs are reduced while content impact is maximized.
From "Display" to "Experience" for Cultural and Historical Resources — Conveying Educational Messages
There is a significant difference in communication effectiveness between displaying cultural and historical messages that a region wants to share behind glass and having visitors become the protagonist of that story and experience it directly. Realworld's playable content utilizes digital immersion technologies such as AR augmented reality, QR recognition, NFC tags, GPS radar, chatbots, and photo frames to transform viewers into active participants.
At the Cheonan Independence Memorial Hall, visitors perform missions while directly tracing the flow of the independence movement within a narrative structure, rather than simply viewing exhibits. The Gyeonggi Provincial Museum's "Gyeonggi Treasure Hunting" increased immersion by having visitors solve puzzles about stories related to the displayed artifacts through QR codes next to the exhibits. By presenting "offline experience" as an alternative to the memorization-focused history education market, it naturally conveys the educational messages inherent in a region's historical and cultural resources. It's a transformation that goes beyond making viewing into experiencing, to making experienced content something visitors want to revisit.
Real Cases of Revitalizing Idle Spaces, Closed Schools, and Old Government Offices
The effects of solving regional idle space problems and revitalizing regions are confirmed through actual operational cases.
The old government office in Gwanggyo, Gyeonggi Province, which had been vacant for years after the Gyeonggi Provincial Office relocated to its new building, became the stage for the world's largest treasure hunt "Realworld Treasure" and achieved a Guinness World Record with 3,040 simultaneous participants in November 2023 (with the record renewed the following year). This is a representative example of neglected administrative space transformed into a place where people gather.
The closed school in Geochang, Gyeongnam Province was reborn as "Semtori," an experiential space with a math research institute concept. By transforming it into a space to experience mathematics as offline entertainment (L.B.E.), it presented a new direction for utilizing closed schools that had been neglected after the construction of exhibition halls and experience centers.
At Cheorwon Historical and Cultural Park, visitors freely explore the entire park and complete missions through the "Cheorwon Patriotic Group" and "Crane's Treasure Hunting" content, extending stay times and helping visitors feel the historical significance of the space.
Gangneung Ojuk Hanok Village was originally a traditional Korean house accommodation complex lacking adequate facilities, but visitor attraction was created by integrating playable content. This case was documented in a paper by Professor Shin Hak-seung's research team at Hanyang University's Department of Tourism in April 2025 and was published in the Journal of Travel Research, the most prestigious academic journal in the travel and tourism field (SSCI Q1, impact factor 8.0), receiving academic recognition for its effectiveness.
The Han-Dok Pharmaceutical Museum in Eumseong, Chungbuk has established itself as a dating destination for the MZ generation by adding offline entertainment content, recording an experiential content satisfaction score of 9.68 out of 10 and a 94.4% change in museum favorability before and after the experience.
Beyond these, operational cases continue across various regions, including the National Veterans Affairs Service's nationwide veterans historic sites treasure hunt "National Treasure," content linked to regional festivals such as the Yeoncheon Paleolithic Festival and Yeongam Wangin Culture Festival, Seoul Forest's "Garden Hunters" linked to the Seoul International Garden Exposition, and "The Scout in Busan," an urban mission game created in partnership with Busan Tourism Organization. The Realworld app, which has surpassed 4 million cumulative downloads, serves as the foundation for all these experiences.
Want to learn more about Realworld?
https://business.realworld.to/
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