[DigitalToday reporter Sangyeop Oh] Mirae Asset Management said on Thursday it will build the global five-star hotel brand JW Marriott on Gyeongdo in Yeosu, South Jeolla province, the first in the Honam region.

Mirae Asset Management on Wednesday held a signing ceremony at JW Marriott Seoul in Banpo, Seoul, for a hotel management contract to develop a global five-star hotel within the Yeosu Gyeongdo development site.

The project is being pursued in cooperation with a global hotel brand and is a key investment project in Mirae Asset Group's Yeosu Gyeongdo marine tourism complex development now under way.

Mirae Asset is developing a total of 650,000 pyeong in the Yeosu Gyeongdo area with an investment of about 1 trillion won, targeting completion in 2029. With the brand introduction, Yeosu Gyeongdo is expected to be developed as a hub for premium hotel and tourism infrastructure representing the southern coast.

The hotel will have 261 rooms and is expected to include key infrastructure required of a global luxury hotel, including high-end restaurants and a bar, convention and banquet facilities, an outdoor swimming pool, a fitness centre and a spa. It will be developed as a complex hotel covering resort demand as well as MICE demand such as corporate events and international events.

Changhoon Choi (최창훈), vice chairman of Mirae Asset Management, said the project seeks a qualitative leap in tourism infrastructure on the southern coast by introducing a global hotel brand. He said it will be completed as a representative mixed-use development project that contributes to revitalising the local economy and enhancing the long-term value of tourism assets.