Regulatory Improvements for Oedomin Business
Registration Now Allowed If Safety Is Verified
Even residential buildings that have been in use for over 30 years can now be registered for the Urban Guesthouse Business for Foreign Tourists (Oedomin Business) if their safety is verified.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on October 10 that it has improved regulations related to the Oedomin Business to respond to the recent increase in demand for tourism to Korea. The Oedomin Business refers to an accommodation service in which residents of urban areas use their homes (with a total floor area of less than 230 square meters) to provide foreign tourists with experiences of Korean culture, as well as lodging and meals.
With this regulatory improvement, the provision on "aged or substandard buildings" in the "Guidelines for Handling the Urban Guesthouse Business for Foreign Tourists" has been deleted. Under the previous guidelines, homes (buildings) that were more than 30 years old after approval for use were not allowed to register for the Oedomin Business, regardless of whether their safety could be proven, and therefore could not operate.
In response, the Ministry revised the guidelines after collecting feedback from the Urban Guesthouse Business for Foreign Tourists Association and local governments, so that local government officials would consider the actual safety of the building when registering for the Oedomin Business. As a result, homes that are over 30 years old can now be registered for the Oedomin Business if they meet safety requirements under the Building Act and the Building Management Act. The relevant local government will check whether the building is marked as a "violating building" in the building register, and if there are safety concerns-such as meeting the criteria set out in Article 15, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1 of the Building Management Act-they can seek the opinion of an architect or other relevant experts to assess the safety of the home.
The criteria for evaluating foreign language services will also be updated to better reflect on-site needs. Previously, the assessment focused on the operator's fluency in foreign languages. However, under the revised guidelines, the use of supplementary tools such as interpretation applications (apps) will also be recognized as providing smooth foreign language services if they enable the operator to effectively guide foreign tourists regarding the facilities, services, and Korean culture. In addition, the requirement for an official test score-previously based on the tourist interpreter guide passing standard (TOEIC score of 760)-will be abolished. The new standard will be whether the operator has an effective system in place to provide practical guidance and convenience to foreign tourists.
The Ministry stated that this revision of the guidelines is part of the detailed implementation tasks for "policy and industrial base innovation," one of the three major innovation initiatives discussed at the 10th National Tourism Strategy Meeting held on September 25.
A policy official from the Ministry commented, "We have relaxed the building standards and updated the foreign language service criteria based on feedback from the field. We hope that this revision will lower the entry barriers for the Oedomin Business and allow foreign tourists to enjoy a wider range of services at guesthouse accommodations."
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