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| Officials of Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Government arrive at the Jeju District Prosecutors' Office, Monday, to file a compensation suit against a student and her mother who traveled to the resort island despite showing symptoms and later tested positive. Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
Things are going from bad to worse on the southern resort island of Jeju following news that a student and her mother, who traveled to the island despite having coronavirus symptoms, later tested positive for COVID-19. Jeju has already been suffering from plunging tourism due to the pandemic.
The number of domestic visitors between Feb. 3 to March 30 has already decreased 52.8 percent, while the number of overseas tourists fell precipitously by 95.7 percent.
Korea reported its first coronavirus patient Jan. 20, and raised the country's alert level for COVID-19 to its highest Feb. 23.
The situation on Jeju has become worse after a student at a university in the United States traveled to the resort island with her mother for five days starting March 20, after coming back to Korea March 15.
The daughter suffered from muscle pains and a sore throat on the first day of the trip, but the two pushed ahead with their visit. They tested positive shortly after returning to their home in Seoul.
According to data from the Jeju Tourism Association, the number of daily visitors to the island, which stood at 17,570, March 20, fell to 15,071, March 28, and 13,454, March 29, down 57.5 percent and 64.6 percent for the latter dates, respectively, from the previous year.
The number fell to 11,640 ― this year's lowest figure ― March 30, raising concerns that the number of monthly visitors to Jeju could drop to below 10,000 soon.
"News about the daughter and mother's trip to Jeju Island has become a nationwide issue, and coincidentally or not, there has been a rapid decrease in the number of visitors in recent days," an official from the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Government said.
On March 30, the Jeju provincial government filed a compensation suit against the student and her mother for a total of 132 million won ($108,000).
It claimed their trip has forced stores to shut down and people to be quarantined as a result of coming into contact with the pair, while the provincial government had to spend money to disinfect specific sites.
