You’ve probably heard of painting the town pink — an expression tied to breast cancer awareness campaigns — but what about painting the island purple? If that doesn’t ring any bells, don’t worry: it’s likely you’re not the only one who has no idea what I’m talking about. The residents of Banwol Island, however, would know exactly where the new chromatic phrase comes from, as they’re the ones responsible for its creation.

When you live in a community boasting a population of just 150 people, there probably aren’t many things you wouldn’t do to bring in more visitors (unless you’re the crotchety, “get off my lawn!” kind of person). And that seems to be the mindset that led officials residing on the tiny South Korean island of Banwol, found in Sinan-gun, a county of South Jeolla Province, to stroll right into a purple haze.

The idea to paint the island purple was hatched back in 2015, but it wasn’t until a few years later that the paint brushes actually came out. Visiting the island today, you would find yourself surrounded by every shade of purple known to mankind. From the roofs of over 400 buildings to the walking bridge connecting Banwol to equally tiny Bakji Island, from a phone booth ripe for photo ops to the fields upon fields of lavender, it is everywhere.

And it’s working! According to CNN Travel, the island saw more than 100,000 visitors between June and August 2020 — a 20% increase over the numbers from the previous year — and has hosted nearly 500,000 guests since 2018. Ever since the pandemic took hold in early 2020, keeping most, if not all, foreign visitors away, domestic travelers have managed to help sustain the increased tourism figures.

It probably helps that most everyone in the community has jumped onboard to bolster the purple aesthetic. That includes the local farmers, who began growing kohlrabi and beets (two on-brand vegetables); the local government, which planted 30,000 New England asters and over 21,000 square meters of lavender; and the local business community, which has propped itself up with a cafe, two full-service restaurants, a small hotel, and bike rental services.

It should also be noted that the project was initially inspired by the purple bellflowers that are native to the area.

Banwol Island is hardly the first place to go all-in on a coordinated color scheme (the blue-washed buildings of Morocco’s Chefchaouen come to mind, for example), but they certainly seem to be doing it right.

-LTH