Hohwangnuri Calls for Revival of 'Golf Course Admission Fee Review Committee' at Jeju Golf Courses

Assemblywoman Yang Kyung-sook and Jeju Provincial Council's 'Policy Forum for Establishing a Desirable Golf Industry'

Despite Record-Breaking Boom, Five Golf Courses Owing Hundreds of Billions in Taxes with Fee Increases

Public Golf Course C

On the 24th at 2 PM, a policy discussion titled "Establishing a Desirable Golf Industry" was held in the main conference room of the Jeju Provincial Council Members' Hall.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters (Jeju) Reporter Park Chang-won] Although the golf industry in Jeju Island is enjoying an unprecedented boom due to COVID-19, it is drawing criticism for reducing resident discounts, raising usage fees, and tax delinquencies. To prevent such abuses in the golf industry, there are calls to reinstate the Golf Course Admission Fee Deliberation Committee.

On the 24th at 2 p.m., Yang Kyung-sook, a member of the National Assembly’s Planning and Finance Committee (Democratic Party, proportional representation), and the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Council’s Post-Corona Response Special Committee (Chairman Kang Sung-min, Democratic Party, Ido 2-dong E) held a “Policy Forum for the Establishment of a Desirable Golf Industry” in the main conference room of the Jeju Provincial Council Members’ Hall.

During the forum, held both online and offline, Representative Yang Kyung-sook gave a video greeting, stating, “The production inducement effect and value-added inducement effect of the golf industry in Jeju are more than twice as high as in other regions,” and added, “Recently, due to COVID-19, the number of golf course users in Jeju increased by 14.7% compared to the previous year. Since the golf industry has a significant impact on Jeju’s regional economy, I hope Jeju develops with golf industry policies that benefit the public.”

Before the main discussion, Seo Cheon-beom, director of the Korea Leisure Industry Research Institute, gave a presentation on “Problems and Improvement Measures of Jeju Golf Course Industry,” and Choi Young-geun, senior research fellow at Jeju Research Institute, presented on “Sustainable Golf Tourism Activation Measures Post-COVID-19.”

Director Seo pointed out, “The government significantly reduced taxes on public golf courses after 2000 to popularize golf,” and noted, “In Jeju, since 2016, six membership golf courses partially converted to public courses, but reductions in golf course admission fees have been stingy.”

Seo emphasized, “Although there is a tax rate difference (18,000 KRW) due to the conversion to public courses, in Jeju, the reduction is only 9,000 KRW on weekdays and 7,400 KRW on Saturdays,” adding, “Especially, four golf courses have not implemented any admission fee reductions. In this case, they are gaining unfair profits equivalent to the tax rate reduction.”

To address the current system’s problems, Seo argued, “It is necessary to reinstall the Admission Fee Deliberation Committee, which was abolished in 2000, and strengthen management and supervision of golf courses that have converted to public courses.”

On the other hand, given the significant ripple effect of golf tourism on the regional economy, there was also a claim that tax (individual consumption tax) reduction benefits should be increased to strengthen the competitiveness of Jeju golf courses.

Research fellow Choi Young-geun emphasized, “The average stay period of golf tourists is about 3 days (2.8 days), and the per capita consumption expenditure reaches 884,900 KRW,” adding, “The actual production inducement effect of golf tourism in Jeju is 1,164.03 billion KRW, the value-added inducement effect is 556.916 billion KRW, and the employment inducement effect reaches 14,077 people.”

Choi further suggested, “To absorb domestic demand for overseas golf tourism, revitalize the local economy, and promote golf popularization, the rationale for exempting the individual consumption tax, which is scheduled to be fully imposed from 2022, has disappeared, so it is necessary to actively seek current exemption measures.”

In the subsequent comprehensive discussion, chaired by Kang Sung-min, various opinions were exchanged to revitalize Jeju’s golf industry by Kang Young-il, chairman of the Jeju Tourism Association Golf Course Division, reporter Jwa Yong-cheol of Jeju Sori, Jwa Kwang-il, secretary general of Jeju Residents’ Autonomy Solidarity, Jang Ji-mi, Jeju Province Taxation Officer, and Kim Si-yoon, Jeju Province Sports Promotion Director.

Kang Young-il, who also serves as CEO of Crown Golf Course and chairman of the Jeju Tourism Association Golf Division, agreed with the criticisms but argued, “Some companies’ unreasonable behaviors are tarnishing the entire Jeju golf industry.”

Kang stated, “Recently, in the resident community, golf courses are being labeled as groups committing illegal acts and tax evasion,” and added, “Our golf courses maintain resident discounts and have accumulated scholarships amounting to 230 billion KRW. Please refrain from claiming that some cases represent the whole.”

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