Jeju Island New virus dramatically reduces tourists in Korea

Jeju Island New virus drastically reduces tourists in Korea February 20 19:52

In Jeju Island, one of Korea's leading resorts, the impact of the new coronavirus has dramatically reduced not only Chinese tourists but also Korean tourists, and the hotel and other tourism businesses have been hit hard.

Jeju Island, a resort in southern Korea, is popular with Chinese tourists. About 60% of foreign tourists who visited last year came from China.

However, the spread of the new coronavirus in China has suspended all 18 air routes connecting China and Jeju Island, and more than 1,000 Chinese tourists have visited the island between 4 and 11 this month. 94.9% less than the same time last year.

In addition, Chinese tourists who visited the island last month have been confirmed to have been infected after returning home, and domestic tourists have almost halved.

With fewer tourists, the downtown area in the center of the island is sparsely populated, and car rental companies' parking lots are full of unrented rental cars.

The impact on hotels on the island is also severe.

In a hotel with about 90 rooms, Chinese tourists dropped sharply when the MERS coronavirus epidemic spread five years ago, or when relations between Korea and South Korea deteriorated three years ago over the deployment of the US interceptor missile system. A little over a year ago, we renovated our hotels and worked to attract domestic tourists, maintaining a staying rate of more than 70%.

However, this month, cancellations have been repeated mainly by domestic tourists, and the accommodation rate has fallen to 20%.

According to the hotel manager, “It's been more than 30 years since the opening of the business, but the situation is the most serious. The economy is going to be tough. "

In response to this situation, Jeju-do invested 1.8 trillion won, or about 170 billion yen in Japanese yen, to thoroughly promote epidemics and promote the island's safety both inside and outside the country and to support the management of self-employed workers. And want to stop further deterioration.

"I want to make sure that the island is clean and free of new coronaviruses, so that it can be visited by domestic tourists. We want to overcome the difficult situation," said Jeju-do Tourism Director-General Kang Young-dong. "