Government to Eradicate Overcharging at Cultural Tourism Festivals

Advance Notice of Food Prices, Strengthened Monitoring

The government is addressing chronic issues such as overcharging at cultural tourism festivals. They will announce food prices in advance and strengthen on-site monitoring and training for related personnel.

On the 22nd, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced that they will launch a "Fair Price Campaign" targeting eighty-six cultural tourism festivals nationwide. Festival organizers, including regional cultural and tourism foundations and festival organizing committees, will hold events to pledge "fair prices," and starting next month, food prices and photos will be posted online on platforms such as "Korea Tourism Organization's Korea Travel Online." Festivals that voluntarily implement measures against overcharging will also be provided with various promotional opportunities, including influencer content creation.

At the same time, on-site monitoring will be intensified. Prices of items sold, including food, will be inspected in more detail, and the results will be reflected in the cultural tourism festival designation review scheduled for December. Additionally, from next month through September, practical training sessions will be held for local government and regional foundation staff involved with cultural tourism festivals. Park Jong-taek, Director of the Tourism Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, explained, "We plan to share and spread excellent cases of hygiene and pricing at local festivals." He added, "We also plan to hold five advisory meetings with festival experts to discuss ways to resolve the overcharging issue."

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