'Seoul International Fireworks Festival with Hanwha' Wins Grand Prize at '2026 Korea Representative Festival Evaluation'

Ranked Overall 1st Among 1,452 Festivals Nationwide… Jinhae Gunhangje Festival and Chunhyang Festival Win Grand Excellence Awards, Seoul lantern Festival Wins Excellence Award

Yanolja Research (Director SooCheong Jang), a research institute specializing in the travel and tourism industry, held the <2026 Korea Representative Festival Evaluation> seminar on August 11 at the Seoul Global Center International Conference Hall in collaboration with the CHRIBA Institute at Purdue University and H&T Analytics Center at Kyung Hee University. During the seminar, Yanolja Research unveiled the 'Korea Festival Attractiveness Index (KFAI)' for the first time in Korea, which quantitatively analyzes the competitiveness of 1,452 festivals nationwide based on social big data. An awards ceremony based on the KFAI evaluation results was also held at the event.

In this evaluation, the Grand Prize (Overall 1st Place) was awarded to the 'Seoul International Fireworks Festival with Hanwha,' which Hanwha Group has held as its flagship corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative since 2000. The festival ranked 1st nationwide in the 'Awareness' category based on social media buzz, earning official recognition as the flagship festival representing South Korea among 1,452 festivals nationwide.

Awards Presented to 4 Festivals Out of 1,452 Nationwide… Grand Prize Goes to Seoul International Fireworks Festival

Unlike traditional metrics based simply on visitor counts or budget size, the KFAI utilizes artificial intelligence to analyze organic consumer feedback on social media, combining 'Awareness' and 'Attractiveness (visitor satisfaction)' at a 50:50 ratio. Based on the evaluation results, Yanolja Research selected and awarded outstanding festivals across four categories.

Along with the Seoul International Fireworks Festival, the Jinhae Gunhangje Festival, which combines cherry blossoms with naval port heritage, took 2nd place overall to receive the Grand Excellence Award. The Chunhyang Festival earned a perfect score (10.00) in Attractiveness with its traditional narrative and the night view of Gwanghallu Garden, ranking 1st nationwide in the Attractiveness category. The Seoul Lantern Festival (urban nightscape festival), the Baekje Cultural Festival (cultural heritage festival), and the Yeongdeungpo Yeouido Spring Flower Festival (natural eco-festival) received Excellence Awards as Top 10 festivals.

"Proving Itself as Korea's Representative Festival with Overwhelming Attention in a Single Day"

SooCheong Jang, Director of Yanolja Research (Professor at Purdue University), stated at the ceremony:

"Despite the physical constraint of being a single-day event, the Seoul International Fireworks Festival ranked 1st overall by securing the most overwhelming public attention among 1,452 festivals nationwide. This result data-proves the sincerity and content quality of Hanwha Group, which has continued this festival as a corporate social responsibility project since 2000."

He added:

“This KFAI is a data-driven index that goes beyond simple awareness or superficial scale to precisely diagnose the real experience and emotional appeal felt by travelers. Festivals like today's award winners—which possess irreplaceable spatial uniqueness and content that cannot be replicated elsewhere—must grow into hub festivals that attract tourists from around the world.”

KFAI: Korea's First Social Big Data-Based Festival Evaluation Index

The KFAI was jointly developed by Yanolja Research and VAIV Company. It quantitatively analyzes traveler reactions gathered across major social channels—including YouTube, Instagram, blogs, and X (formerly Twitter)—over the past year (July 2025 – June 2026) for 1,452 festivals using Transformer-based AI sentiment analysis.

The index was initiated to address the problem that despite a 37.2% surge in the number of Korean festivals over the past six years, visitor satisfaction and regional economic ripple effects have stagnated. Its defining feature is shifting the evaluation paradigm from a provider- and scale-centered approach to a traveler experience-centered model.

Following the keynote on the development background and methodology of KFAI (Session I by Director SooCheong Jang), evaluation results by festival type and region were presented (Session II by Professor Gyu-Wan Choi of Kyung Hee University). The seminar concluded with a panel discussion featuring experts from industry, academia, and government.

[Appendix] 2026 Korea Festival Attractiveness Index (KFAI) Top 10 Overall Rankings