Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Proposes System Improvement and Revitalization Measures... Meal Provision Allowed in Island and Mountainous Areas
The government has decided to lift the housing size regulation limited to a total floor area of 230㎡ to revitalize rural homestays. Additionally, only rural homestays located in areas such as islands and mountainous regions where there are no nearby restaurants will be allowed to provide dinner.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the "Improvement and Revitalization Plan for the Rural Homestay System" on the 3rd, outlining these measures.
An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs explained, "Despite various demands for deregulation related to rural homestays, discussions on easing regulations were limited due to concerns about safety accidents, indiscriminate development in rural areas, and damage to residential environments. This improvement plan was prepared to actively utilize rural homestays, which can be considered a core pillar of rural tourism, as a means to promote rural development and vitality."
Until now, the government has restricted rural homestay businesses, which are mainly located in residential areas of rural regions, to a housing size under 230㎡ and no more than 10 rooms to minimize side effects caused by the proliferation of large-scale businesses. However, with recent tourism demand becoming more sophisticated and diverse, and increasing requests for various facilities such as barbecue areas and swimming pools in addition to rooms, the housing size restriction will be removed.
However, since the status of rural homestays varies by region and indiscriminate expansion of standards could cause damage to rural landscapes and conflicts among residents, when revising related laws, local governments will be delegated the authority to set area standards through ordinances within the upper limit of 10 rooms.
Rural homestays located in remote mountainous or island areas where it is difficult to access nearby restaurants will also be allowed to provide dinner. Until now, only breakfast was permitted since 2015 due to fairness issues with general restaurant operations and concerns about hygiene and quality. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to delegate the establishment of facility standards to local governments to allow limited meal provision in island and mountainous areas and strengthen hygiene education for meal-providing businesses.
Management and supervision of rural homestays will also be strengthened. According to the Ministry, an investigation conducted from the second half of last year to February this year on reported rural homestays found suspicious signs of illegal or irregular operations in 50% of all homestays. Accordingly, grounds for investigation and inspection to respond to illegal operations will be established, and if illegal operations persist or local governments’ improvement orders are not followed, prompt administrative actions will be applied. To enable consumers to verify legitimate homestay businesses, related grounds will be established to mandate that operators indicate rural homestay status when booking online.
Kim Jong-gu, Director of the Rural Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "This system improvement not only relaxes regulations to improve business conditions for rural homestays but also considers strengthening necessary regulations to minimize damage to residential conditions. We hope rural homestays will establish themselves as a new business model in our rural areas and serve as a means to enhance vitality in response to rural depopulation."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
