Jeju Island’s tourism structure changes: surge of Chinese tourists triggers discussion in Korean society

South Korea's Jeju Island has become an international tourist destination, but some Koreans are critical of it. From their mouths, one can hear cynical comments such as "Jeju Island has completely become a playground for the Chinese." In August this year, among foreign tourists, Chinese tourists accounted for the highest proportion of 64.6%, followed by Taiwanese tourists at 10.1%.

This summer, the remains of a series of missing persons were discovered on Jeju Island, and the police were exposed as mishandling missing persons reports. Although no foul play has been confirmed in any of the cases, rumors of "foreign crime" are circulating on the island. The backdrop for all this is that the face of Jeju Island is changing due to a surge in foreign tourists, mainly from China.

Noh Min-ha, a reporter from Japanese media Daily Shincho in South Korea, wrote that even though it is a weekday, the urban area of ​​Jeju Island is still bustling with tourists. But the faces of tourists are completely different from before, and many of them are foreigners.

In the past few years, Chinese, Vietnamese and Indonesian were often heard in Jeju’s city center and business districts. Today, Chinese and Southeast Asian languages ​​appear alongside Korean not only on restaurant menus but also on car rental company signs and various other store signs. In particular, there are many products and services specifically targeted at Chinese tourists, and Chinese is everywhere.

Jeju Island has become an international tourist destination, which is certainly a good thing, but some Koreans criticize that "Jeju Island has completely become a playground for the Chinese."

The disappearances and deaths exposed on Jeju Island further angered the South Korean people. In addition to police misconduct, discussions began to arise about the relationship between the increasing number of foreigners and "public safety", and the problem gradually spread.

According to Jeju Island tourist statistics released by Jeju City and the Jeju Tourism Association, the number of tourists to Jeju Island in August this year was basically the same, down only 0.1% from the same period last year. Despite this, the number of foreign tourists increased by 10.9% compared with the same period last year, reaching 268,970, accounting for 20.1% of the total number of tourists.

On the other hand, the number of tourists from South Korea has declined. The number of Korean tourists visiting Jeju Island in August was 1.072403, a decrease of 2.5% from the same period last year. This downward trend continued from May to July, and even in September, the number of tourists was still lower than the same period last year.

The number of tourists to Jeju Island in July dropped by 84,000 compared to the same period last year. Among them, Korean tourists decreased by 90,000, while foreign tourists increased by 6,000. The main reason for the decline in the number of Korean tourists is lower air ticket prices and reduced domestic flight capacity. While the number of Korean tourists is declining, the number of foreign tourists is increasing. And a large part of them are Chinese tourists.

Last year, Jeju Island received a total of 2,242,187 foreign tourists, including 1,588,107 Chinese tourists, accounting for about 70% of the total. In August this year, Chinese tourists accounted for the highest proportion of foreign tourists by country and region, reaching 64.6%, followed by Taiwan (10.1%), Hong Kong (2.9%) and Japan (2.4%). This confirms the Korean saying that "Jeju Island has become a playground for the Chinese."