Cancellation of Events Including Prejamboree and Jjokbae Festival
Decrease in Tourists in Peak Season Areas Like Jeju Due to '6th Wave' Impact
Possibility of Social Distancing Changes...Tourism Industry 'Concerns'
As the COVID-19 pandemic enters a 'resurgence phase,' the tourism industry is facing increasing difficulties. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jung-wan] The pre-event Pre-Jamboree of the World Scout Jamboree, the world's largest international youth event, has been canceled. The organizers explained that this decision was made after an emergency meeting with related agencies to ensure the safety of participating youth amid the COVID-19 resurgence and the resulting quarantine crisis. The tourism industry is expressing concerns that events and festivals may be canceled one after another.
On the 19th, the 2023 Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree Organizing Committee announced the cancellation of the 15th Korea Jamboree and Pre-Jamboree in consideration of the COVID-19 spread situation. The World Scout Jamboree is the world's largest international youth event held every four years, where youth from around the globe engage in exchanges and experiential activities to discuss challenges, pioneering, global peace, and ecology, growing into global leaders.
Ahead of next year's main event, the organizing committee planned to hold the Pre-Jamboree from the 2nd to the 7th of next month in a part of the Saemangeum reclamation area in Buan-gun. However, due to the COVID-19 resurgence phase, they decided to cancel the event prioritizing the health and safety of participants. The committee stated, "Although we made every effort to prepare for the event, the COVID-19 spread was steeper than expected, making cancellation unavoidable."
The Hwacheon Jjokbae Festival in Gangwon-do, which had been canceled since 2020 due to the COVID-19 impact, has also been decided to be canceled again this year due to the resurgence. Consequently, related programs and performances such as kayaking, canoeing, sky cutting, and water bicycles will not be available.
Local governments that decided to resume festivals are also showing signs of renewed vigilance by installing thermometers amid the resurgence phase. At the 2022 Chungju Lake Festival, which will resume after four years from the 28th to the 31st, Chungju City in Chungbuk plans to implement strict mask-wearing guidance and install non-contact thermometers at the entrance of the water play area as part of quarantine measures. As a result, entry of those with fever will be blocked in advance.
Amid the rapidly increasing number of confirmed cases, vigilance in quarantine measures has been revived, and in some cases, festivals have been canceled. [Image source=Yonhap News]
As quarantine tensions have revived and festivals are being canceled, merchants near summer resorts are growing increasingly worried. Since this is the first vacation season after the lifting of social distancing, expectations were high, but the rapidly increasing number of confirmed cases may cause visitor numbers to dwindle again. A merchant near Eulwangri Beach in Incheon said, "Customers had just started to increase, but with the rise in confirmed cases, I am worried," adding, "I was hoping it would get crowded as the vacation season approached, but I fear it will decrease again, so every day is a continuous tension."
In fact, Jeju Island, considered a popular domestic travel destination, experienced a paradoxical phenomenon where tourists decreased despite the summer peak season. According to the Jeju Tourism Association, after the full lifting of social distancing on April 18, more than 40,000 tourists visited Jeju daily on average until May, but during the summer peak in July, the daily average number of tourists dropped to the 30,000 range. The tourism industry attributes this situation to the economic crisis and the COVID-19 resurgence. A tourism industry official said, "The outlook for September and October, considered semi-peak seasons, is not bright," adding, "Inquiries about reservation cancellations are increasing due to concerns about the COVID-19 resurgence."
On the 17th, citizens waiting for testing at the COVID-19 screening clinic at Gangnam-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@
In this regard, the quarantine authorities stated that they would consider reintroducing social distancing depending on the epidemic situation, suggesting the possibility of reinstating social distancing measures if confirmed cases, severe cases, and deaths increase. On the 13th, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said, "At this stage, mandatory social distancing measures will not be implemented," but added, "However, if there is a significant change in the epidemic situation, we will consider selective and phased social distancing."
Six days later, on the 19th, Lim Sook-young, the head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters Situation Management Team, responded to a question about whether the current situation is considered the '6th wave' by saying, "The spread is continuously increasing, so we consider it an epidemic situation." On the 20th, Lee Ki-il, the first chief coordinator of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, announced additional measures, including △ securing additional hospital beds △ suspending face-to-face visits at nursing hospitals and facilities △ expanding temporary screening clinics and self-test kit sales locations, while forecasting that the daily average number of confirmed cases could reach up to 280,000 by the end of August.
Meanwhile, according to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, as of midnight on the same day, the number of new COVID-19 confirmed cases increased by 76,402, continuing the 'weekly doubling' phenomenon (cases doubling every week) for the 17th consecutive day. The continuous weekly doubling is interpreted as an effect of the spread of the BA.5 variant, which has much higher transmissibility. The BA.5 variant, which is driving the global resurgence recently, recorded a detection rate of 47.2% domestically and is expected to become the dominant strain soon. Including imported cases, the rate is 52.0%, already exceeding 50%.
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