'Jeju City Embracing Kindness' Campaign
Jeju Island, shunned by domestic tourists due to controversies such as 'overcharging,' has taken proactive steps to improve its tarnished image.
On the 18th, Yonhap News reported, citing Jeju City, that the city is launching the 'Jeju City Embracing Kindness' campaign to enhance Jeju's tourism image.
Jeju City, together with local hygiene organizations, will hold a kindness pledge declaration ceremony and street campaign at Tamna Culture Square and Dongmun Market area in Jeju City at 4 p.m. today. They will conduct a year-round pledge relay by posting the kindness pledges of hygiene business owners on social networking services (SNS), and hold resolution meetings at regular general meetings and other events of hygiene organizations.
In addition, in April, a fair and kind business praise event will be held, and 100 participants will be selected by lottery to receive mobile beverage coupons worth 5,000 won. During the first half of the year, a video to improve Jeju’s tourism image will be produced and promoted through YouTube and other platforms.
Earlier, Jeju Province announced plans to revitalize the tourism market by providing travel subsidies to attract domestic tourists. According to Jeju Province and the travel industry, the decline in domestic tourists visiting Jeju has become increasingly evident, causing a sense of crisis in Jeju’s tourism industry.
In January of this year alone, the number of domestic tourists visiting Jeju was 860,213, a 11.9% decrease compared to 976,888 during the same period last year.
Especially over the past three years, the number of domestic tourists visiting Jeju has decreased annually: 13,803,058 in 2022, 12,661,179 in 2023 (-8.3% compared to the previous year), and 11,861,654 in 2024 (-6.3%). The industry analyzes that the decline in domestic tourists is due to the spread of negative images, political instability, and a reduction in domestic flight seat availability.
Meanwhile, even domestic golfers are abandoning Jeju Island and heading overseas. There are also concerns that Jeju’s chronic overcharging issue is becoming a reality again. According to Jeju City, the number of golfers in the province, which was close to 3 million at 2,898,742 during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, has declined over the past three years, dropping to around 2.34 million by the end of last year.
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