By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Jeju Island is arguably Korea's most popular tourist destination. Arriving at the resort island, most people get excited about the exotic environment. However, many people leave the island unhappy with the high travel costs.
Concerned that this will smear the island's image and weaken its competitiveness, the Jeju government is moving to take measures to eradicate prevalent rip-offs and poor services across the otherwise beautiful and attractive island.
It recently compared travel fees in Jeju and other major tourist destinations in and outside of Korea, and found Jeju's prices much higher.
The tourism industry takes up 24 percent of Jeju's total GRDP. More than 5.4 million people visited the island last year, and about 10 percent of them were foreigners.
According to a survey on Jeju, the price of flatfish sashimi is between 80,000 won and 110,000 won per kilogram there, up to 57 percent higher than 50,000-80,000 won in Seoul, Busan and Daejeon. Saw-edged perch, one of the island's top quality row fish, was sometimes sold at 250,000 won, while the market price was 180,000 won.
It cost an average 715,000 won for a group of four people to play golf on weekends at golf courses in Jeju, double the fees in China, Thailand or the Philippines. A two-day golf package was 680,000 won per person including airfares between Seoul and Jeju and accommodation ― 8-28 percent higher than the packages in other regions in Korea.
Accommodation was no exception: The rate for a top quality hotel was on average 410,000 won per night, 4-7 percent higher than Seoul and Busan and 30-35 percent higher than Beijing and Bangkok.
``The prices are getting higher, as some restaurants give some 20 percent of their food sales as commission to travel agencies that bring customers to them. Also, Koreans put Jeju in the same category as resort destinations in Southeast Asia, which provide much lower fees than Jeju,'' Oh Chang-hyeon, a Jeju government official said.
The local authority is preparing countermeasures, including granting certificates to restaurants, hotels and tourist attractions providing quality service. It will also select the best restaurants and attractions every month. ``We'll also make a blacklist of restaurants, hotels and tourist places notorious for rip-offs and poor service and disclose this to the public,'' Oh said.