"Room Rate That Was 100,000 Won Now 400,000 Won?" COVID-19 Holiday Season Prices Soar Amid Complaints

Due to the Impact of COVID-19, Domestic Travel Destinations Attract Vacation Crowds
Concerns Rise Over Unfair Charges Such as Overpricing and Seat Fees
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Intensifies Crackdown on Posting and Compliance Violations and Illegal Facility Installations

Campaign to Eradicate Overcharging at Beaches. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon, Intern Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] #Kim (31, female), an office worker preparing for summer vacation, chose Jeju Island as her travel destination considering the difficulty of traveling abroad due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Taking into account the vacation season, Kim set a budget for plane tickets and accommodation, but the budget was far from sufficient. She complained, "The one-way plane ticket, which used to be around 100,000 won, rose to over 200,000 won due to the vacation season, and accommodations that were in the 200,000 won range increased to 500,000 to 600,000 won per night. I expected tourists to flock to Jeju and prices to rise, but this is just too much."

As the number of people planning summer vacations domestically instead of abroad surged due to the COVID-19 aftermath, voices expressing concern over price gouging have also risen. This reflects the distrust caused by the so-called "whatever price they ask" deceptive marketing, which has been a problem in domestic travel destinations every vacation season.

According to the "2019 Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Visitor Survey" released by the Jeju Tourism Organization, expensive prices (29.1%) accounted for the highest proportion of dissatisfaction among domestic tourists visiting Jeju. In an in-depth survey conducted by the Tourism Organization on 1,182 people, among the 54.9% of domestic tourists who expressed dissatisfaction with their Jeju trip, 39.0% complained about Jeju's prices.

Office worker Lee (27, female) said, "Since overseas travel is difficult, I have no choice but to take a domestic vacation, but honestly, it feels unpleasant. Rough calculations show that the expenses are expected to be similar to when I went abroad last year."

Lee added, "Above all, I am dissatisfied because I feel upset spending so much money. Even when making reservations, the absurd price increases are visible, and I expect to have unpleasant experiences with price gouging at the travel destination."

Accommodation price guide posted on a pension website in Gangwon-do. The price list does not include rates for the semi-peak and peak seasons. Photo by Pension Website Capture

As tourists' dissatisfaction grew, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced an improvement plan on the 14th to welcome tourists, including quarantine and price stabilization measures, in cooperation with related ministries, 17 cities and provinces, the Korea Tourism Association, the Hotel Association, and the Korea Tourism Organization in preparation for the summer peak season.

To eradicate price gouging at tourist spots during the summer peak season, which has been pointed out every year, they decided to focus on inspecting whether prices are posted and complied with, and whether illegal facilities are installed.

However, in some tourist spots, it was found that unfair methods such as not displaying prices or adding charges for facilities that did not originally exist are still being used to demand extra fees.

Housewife Park (32, female), who planned a vacation to Gangwon-do, said, "I researched in advance and made an online reservation, but as the peak season approached, the pension contacted me and said that the price had changed from last year and that if I did not pay the additional fee, the reservation would be canceled."

Park complained, "I made the reservation in advance to use it at a low price, but suddenly notifying me right before the vacation is practically a threat. Even if I cancel now and try to find another place, there are no accommodations available or I have to book at an absurdly high price."

Photo by Yonhap News

In addition, it was found that unfair charges such as seat fees are still being collected at major tourist spots. To catch these, the government has set up and operates a report center for unfair charges and plans to conduct on-site inspections of beaches where fees for major items such as parking lots and life jackets have risen excessively compared to last year.

Local governments and tourism police will jointly crack down on illegal accommodations, compile the results, and use them to prepare future measures.

Meanwhile, Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong announced that he would strongly crack down using all means to eradicate the skyrocketing price gouging in the province ahead of the summer vacation peak season.

On the 22nd of last month, Governor Won posted on his Facebook, "People exhausted in body and mind due to COVID-19 want to take a breather in clean Jeju this summer, but media reports have already come out that accommodation prices in the province during the peak season have soared to the sky," and pointed out, "Some price gouging practices tarnish Jeju's image."

He added, "We will not tolerate price gouging by businesses seeking quick profits taking advantage of the fact that overseas travel is virtually blocked due to COVID-19. I have instructed the relevant departments to thoroughly investigate the situation and prepare strong countermeasures. We will use all possible means."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.