238 Accommodation Facilities Closed or Suspended Operations from January to May This Year
It has been revealed that the number of accommodation facilities closing, mainly rural homestays, has surged in Jeju.
According to Jeju Province on the 5th, a total of 248 accommodation facilities in the province have temporarily closed or shut down from January 1 to May 31 this year. Among them, 21 accommodations reported temporary closure, and 227 permanently closed.
This represents an increase of 41.3 times compared to the previous year, 16.6 times compared to 2022, and 11.8 times compared to 2021. Looking at temporary and permanent closures from January to May by year, there were 6 in 2023 (5 temporary, 1 permanent), 15 in 2022 (13 temporary, 2 permanent), and 21 in 2021 (20 temporary, 1 permanent).
By industry type, rural homestays (219 places) accounted for the largest number of temporary and permanent closures. This was followed by 18 tourist accommodations, 6 youth hostels, 4 general accommodations, and 1 recreational pension that temporarily closed or shut down.
Jeju Province analyzed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic tourism flourished, leading to an increase in accommodation facilities, but recently, with a decline in domestic tourists, rural homestays and others have suffered significant damage. As of the end of May, the total number of accommodation facilities in Jeju was 7,402, a significant increase compared to 6,960 in 2023, 6,404 in 2022, and 5,933 in 2021.
While temporary and permanent closures are increasing mainly among homestays, it has been found that many new resort-type accommodations are opening.
By industry type, there are 5,894 rural homestays, 631 general accommodations, 417 tourist accommodations, 325 residential accommodations, 119 recreational pensions, 15 youth hostels, and 1 hanok experience facility. Compared to 2021 (4,545 rural homestays, 643 general accommodations, 423 tourist accommodations, 195 residential accommodations, 110 recreational pensions, 17 youth hostels, 0 hanok experience), residential accommodations increased by 66.7%, rural homestays by 29.7%, and recreational pensions by 8.2%. Residential accommodations refer to resort-type properties with cooking facilities available for sale.
Meanwhile, with a series of adverse events related to food prices, such as the 'pork belly controversy,' Jeju Province is struggling to recover the number of domestic tourists. Among the 5,653,747 tourists who visited Jeju from January to May this year, 4,926,088 were domestic tourists. The number of domestic tourists from January to May by year was 5,344,546 in 2023 and 5,539,816 in 2022.
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