Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeongbok's first investor event to attract foreign investment was a success. With new investment inbound, Incheon will build a European-style global healing spa and resort, and the city administration will work with a German craft beer manufacturer more than 200 years old as well as IoT blockchain startups going forward.
▲ On November 17 (local time), a delegation from Incheon led by Mayor Yoo Jeongbok hosted an investor event in Frankfurt, Germany, which is considered a major hub for international business, to attract investment from Europe. The event was attended by local leaders, including the Mayor of Frankfurt, and the Commissioner of the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority. Also, more than 40 executives from a total of 25 companies joined the event. With three companies signing a letter of intent for mutual cooperation, sources say the event has been a much bigger success compared to what the city had originally expected.
Incheon City announced on November 18 that a delegation from Incheon led by Mayor Yoo Jeongbok hosted an investor event in Frankfurt, Germany, which is considered a major hub for international business, on November 17 (local time) to attract investment from Europe. The event was attended by local leaders, including the Mayor of Frankfurt, and the Commissioner of the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority.
Also, more than 40 executives from a total of 25 companies joined the event. With three companies signing a letter of intent for mutual cooperation, sources say the event has been a much bigger success compared to what the city had originally expected.In addition, multiple participating companies are hoping to collaborate in the future, which could lead to additional investments.
First, the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) Authority signed a letter of intent for mutual cooperation with Therme Group, signaling that a European-style global healing spa and resort could be coming to IFEZ, which has great access to the Yellow Sea.
The terms of the letter of intent say that IFEZ will cooperate with Therme Group in finding sites for attracting and operating facilities in IFEZ, offer administrative support, and support communication and cooperation with related organizations. Therme Group will submit a foreign direct investment (FDI) application worth USD 200 million within this year and begin an all-out assault to push the project forward.
Headquartered in Austria,Therme Group currently has four healing spas and wellness resorts in Romania and Germany. Therme Bucharest opened in 2016, and it enjoys a great reputation as the largest healing and relaxing venue in Europe, visited by 1.2 million visitors a year.
The unique characteristic of Therme Group is that it offers nature-friendly leisure venues that feature a domed spa available 365 days a year regardless of the season and also a botanical garden. In fact, Therme Bucharest in Romania earned the Platinum grade, the premier grade awarded by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), an international green building certification system.
▲ Yoo Jeongbok, Mayor of Incheon Metropolitan City, met with business officials at an investor event for German corporations in Frankfurt, Germany, on November 17 (local time).
Therme Group sees IFEZ as a serious candidate for its investment, and this is in large part due to the IFEZ Authority’s aggressive efforts to seek out new investment and Incheon’s inherent advantage as a port city with a major international airport that could function as a hub for tourism in Northeast Asia.
In addition to the Therme Group, Pfungstadter, which has been producing traditional German craft beer since 1831, discussed the potential for investment and a new craft beer brewery as part of a Korean cultural town in Europe. Incheon also decided to collaborate with Oktoberfest in Germany when hosting its own beef festival in Songdo.
Moreover, Incheon signed a letter of intent for mutual cooperation with ioTAL GmbH, a venture company developing an air logistics system using ioT blockchain technology. ioTAL will look for new ways to collaborate with the Incheon International Airport Corporation and Incheon's aviation companies, and work with the Incheon Startup Park going forward.
