Jeju raises alarm over 'excessive' tourists during holiday

Tourists walk along an olle trail on Jeju Island in this undated file photo. / Courtesy of Jeju Olle Foundation

By Jun Ji-hye

More than 100,000 people are expected to travel to the southern resort of Jeju Island during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, angering many who followed the advice of the health authorities and refrained from visiting their families and relatives amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is raising concern among officials and residents of Jeju as the visitors may bring the coronavirus to the island.

This year's Lunar New Year holiday, or Seollal in Korean, is one of the country's key traditional holidays, running from Thursday through Sunday.

The Jeju Tourism Association (JTA) expects 143,000 people to visit the island during the holiday, despite government pleas to refrain from unnecessary travel to stem the spread of the contagious disease.

The number is down by about 30 percent from a year earlier, but JTA officials deem it still to be too many amid the prolonged public health crisis.

“I decided not to visit my parents living in Busan to comply with the government's social distancing rules,” said Cho Hye-jin, a 37-year-old housewife in Seoul. “I think those planning a trip during the holiday are so selfish.”

Jeju officials are expressing concern over the possibility of a resurgence in infections on the island which had begun to see a brief lull in new cases only recently after suffering from a rapid increase in numbers from November to January.

The recent emergence of new variants of the coronavirus, which are known to be more transmissible, is adding to the concerns.

Amid the growing worries, the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province strongly advised tourists to go through COVID-19 testing within the three days prior to their departure and to only visit if they test negative.

Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong warned that the province will take stern measures including exercising its right to indemnity against those who arrive on the island without having been tested and are later confirmed to have the virus when they were staying on the island.

“We should minimize contact and movement during the holiday to prevent any resurgence of infections,” Won said during a media briefing last week. “We will adopt a zero tolerance stance toward people who violate our antivirus measures during their stay on the island.”

The province said it will exempt those who submit their negative test results from admission fees at 29 public tourist attractions, including Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak) that was designated a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site in 2007.

The province has taken strict antivirus measures since last year, including mandating visitors arriving at airports and seaports, and who have a body temperature over 37.5 degrees Celsius, to have a coronavirus test and remain isolated until the results come out.