During the COVID-19 pandemic, when overseas travel was difficult, Jeju Island, which was popular as a domestic travel destination, is constantly being embroiled in the “overprice controversy” and is being neglected after endemic (endemic epidemic). Among them, Chinese people are scheduled to go on group tours from the end of this month, so it is noteworthy whether the local tourist spots will be revitalized again.
According to the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Tourism Association on the 14th, the number of domestic tourists who visited Jeju in June, the first summer vacation season after the endemic, was 1,092,161. This is a decrease of about 14.5% (186,000 people) compared to the same period last year.
Despite the trend of high prices, consumers who want to go abroad, such as Japan, are flocking to the airport every day, but it means that only the number of tourists looking at Jeju has decreased noticeably.
As the number of tourists declines, the performance of duty-free shops and accommodations and restaurants is also sluggish.
As a result of the National Statistical Office’s survey of city and province service industry production and retail sales trends in the second quarter of this year, Jeju’s service industry production decreased by 1.7%, retail sales by 7.44%, and duty-free sales by 27.55%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
The National Statistical Office analyzed, “As overseas travel normalized, the number of tourists decreased significantly, resulting in a sharp drop in sales at duty-free shops, and sluggish accommodations and restaurants, which seems to have led to a decrease in production in the service industry.”
Previously, Jeju was visited by 13,811,068 domestic tourists last year, making it the highest-ever boom since 1962, when local tourism began in earnest. About 250,000 more people visited Jeju than in 2019 (about 13.56 million), which was the previous record.
As high-intensity quarantine rules such as social distancing were lifted, individual tourists as well as group travelers, including school trips, flocked to it, but in reality, it is evaluated as ‘an honor that only hurts’. After the ‘overcharge controversy’ continued in the high price trend, it was directly hit as overseas travel became normal again.
As the Japanese government allowed foreign tourists to enter the country without a visa (visa exemption) and travel independently in October of last year, travel demand was concentrated in Japan and Southeast Asian countries. From this point on먹튀검증, Jeju, which was pushed out of the selection, began to walk downhill.
It is said that some of the travel and airline industries have recently been struggling with countermeasures as Jeju has been hit harder than expected as excessive pricing of car rental companies, restaurants, and accommodations has emerged as a problem.
An official from the airline industry said, “There has been a steady stream of discussions about whether the routes that were hastily expanded last year should be turned overseas.” It was an atmosphere,” he hinted.
Industry insiders predict that companies will keep a close eye on trends until the third quarter (July-September). This is because the Chinese government has recently allowed group tours to Korea, and it is judged that there will be demand for Chinese people entering Jeju through the sky and sea routes.
It is the prospect and expectation of the industry that if Chinese tourists (Yuke), who arrive via cruise ships, fill the vacancy of Koreans, who have greatly decreased, Jeju will become lively again. There are 15 cruise ships departing from China this year, including one in this month, five in September, one in October, and eight in December.
In addition, as 38 cruise ships are scheduled to depart from China by March next year, it is said that various preparations have been made for group tours at the provincial level.
Regarding this, the Jeju Tourism Organization said, “In preparation for the opening of the Chinese group tour market, we have been discovering various contents and conducting online and offline promotions. We plan to increase it,” he said.