A gugak singer performs inside Chungbuk Yeongdong Gugak & Wine Train as it heads from Seoul Station to Yeongdong Station in North Chungcheong Province, Tuesday. Courtesy of KORAIL

Chungbuk Yeongdong Gugak & Wine Train serves Mir Atto, a shine muscat-based wine made by a winery in Yeongdong County. Courtesy of KORAIL

YEONGDONG, North Chungcheong Province — KORAIL is spurring regional tourism with themed train voyages to boost economies outside the country's capital region as the younger generations' concentration in Seoul and record-low birthrate nationwide are drying out regional populations, according to the state-run railway operator, Thursday.

One of the initiative's target regions is Yeongdong County in North Chungcheong Province, an interior region surrounded by mountains with a population of 43,000. Taking advantage of the region's specialties — wine and gugak (Korean traditional music) — the company, with help from a local tourism agency, attracts tourists with a unique train ride and guides them to the county's local hotspots.

Chungbuk Yeongdong Gugak & Wine Train, a seven-car train with a wine bar in one car and performance stages in each car except one used for storage, departs from Seoul Station and heads to Yeongdong Station. Each car seats 46 passengers at table settings, with each table equipped with two bottles of wine made in Yeongdong wineries, as well as wine glasses and sandwiches.

During the three-hour journey, the party picks up steam. While passengers enjoy the food and wine, emcees host a party in each car. Two female gugak singers clad in hanbok (Korean traditional dress) fill about two hours, performing on the stage.

"All 246 seats in this train have been sold out," said Won Jong-hyeok from Happy Train, a local tourism agency selling the gugak wine train tour package in partnership with KORAIL. "Yeongdong County Office designed the train. The wines are from around the county which has 34 local wineries. The train began in 2018, halted during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21 and resumed in May last year."

Arriving in Yeongdong, the tour transfers to a bus that drives guests to a local winery where they are served lunch. Kim Deok-hyeon, a winemaker at Country Winery in the county, said that one-fifth of the county farms are wineries and produce about 45,000 bottles of red wine each year.

The Wine Tunnel in Yeongdong County is a local hotspot where visitors can taste and purchase the region's local wineries and their wines. Courtesy of KORAIL

The tour continues to Rainbow Healing Center, a relaxation-themed facility with a county budget of 19.7 billion won ($15 million) that is equipped with a foot spa, illite heat sauna and various sections designed for daydreaming and soul-searching.

The Wine Tunnel, a 600-meter-long museum exhibiting the history of wine and which wines each of Yeongdong wineries produce, is where tourists can also take a sip and taste a wine ice cream.

"We produce more grapes, shine muscats and other fruit than rice. It allows us to be the country's representative wine region, producing 8 percent of the entire wine products nationwide," said Kang Seong-kyu, vice governor of Yeongdong.

KORAIL, to bolster railway tourism in regions being threatened by depopulation, signed partnerships on July 16 with four ministries, three state-run companies and 23 local governments. The special trains include not only the gugak wine train but also sightseeing trains along the south, west and east coasts, the Baekdu-Daegan mountain range and another visiting the country's oldest marketplaces nationwide. An education-themed train and those traveling for two or three days are also sponsored by the regions.

KORAIL said that these railway tourism packages are expected to draw about 100,000 passengers this year, a 189 percent jump from the previous year and generate 26.8 billion won for regional economies.

"We've checked 89 regions with the worst depopulation problems and shortlisted 40 to develop their economies in partnership with tourism agencies and the region's corresponding local authorities," a KORAIL official said. "Among our special tourism package trains, the gugak wine train has sold the most tickets."