Each summer, prominent European theaters like the Palais Garnier in Paris and the Vienna State Opera shut their gates at the same time. This occurs because both artists and spectators go on holiday during the same period—a situation referred to as the “Summer Shutdown.” Although cultural events in cities come to a halt, the arts shift into festival formats, moving to stages located in mountainous and valley regions where audiences travel.
A notable example is Verbier, a small Swiss mountain town with a population of only 3,000 residents. Previously a common summer off-peak region where business slowed down after the winter ski season, the town turned its situation around in 1994 by organizing a classical music festival on open alpine fields. During the two-week celebration, approximately 45,000 visitors came each year, and hotel occupancy rates reached 85–90%. More than 30 years later, it has emerged as a successful model for addressing “seasonal population decline” via festivals.
The same is true for Pörtschach, a resort town in Austria with a population of 2,750. By organizing a “Body Painting Festival” at its high-end resort, the lakeside community draws more than 30,000 visitors from over 50 countries each year. This creative event, which uses the human body as a painting surface, takes place at the end of the summer holiday period, helping to extend the peak season.
South Korea also offers a revitalizing arts festival with a vacation vibe: the Geochang International Theater Festival, held in Suseongdae Valley, Geochang, Gyeongsangnam-do. This officially recognized scenic area, admired by the Joseon scholar Toegye Lee Hwang, allows visitors to cool their feet in the stream or swim during the day, and then enjoy the distinctive combination of actors’ voices resonating off the valley rocks along with the sound of water at night. The key to maintaining this festival for 36 years in Geochang—a town with less than 60,000 people—is its “unreproducible on-site authenticity,” which cannot be duplicated in urban areas. This year, 50 artistic groups, including seven from abroad, will perform, turning the entire valley into a huge open-air theater. A visit to Geochang is advised this week.
As worries over regional deterioration increase, merely highlighting “tens of thousands of visitors” is not enough. Festivals need to be structured to link attendees with all parts of the area via carefully organized events. Approaches that smoothly lead festival participants into local villages and shopping areas—the core of “summer economics”—are the ones that genuinely rejuvenate the region.
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