Seoul to crack down harder on 'dumping' tourist packages

Tourists in hanbok, or Korean traditional dress, visit Gyeongbok Palace in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Sunday afternoon. [YONHAP]

Seoul will expand its crackdown on budget “dumping” tourist packages, often blamed for compromising the quality of travel experiences in Korea.

Such package trips refer to those that lead tourists to purchase overpriced products, including duty-free and nutritional products, by including frequent shopping mall visits. Travel agencies often claim commissions from locations such as shopping malls by herding tourists to these free-of-charge places.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Monday, it plans to strengthen crackdowns and monitoring against these cheaper tourist packages to prevent degrading traveling experiences in the capital. The city government inspected illegal tour guides and accommodations in October last year and began operating an illegal tourism report center in December.

The metropolitan government said it reviewed 100 low-priced travel packages on China’s four major online travel agencies, 85 of which were suspected to be dumping. There were 3,097 travel packages to Seoul on the online platforms.

The city government said it will gradually expand its investigation to other countries.

Of the 85 suspected cases, 45 tourist packages included visiting shopping malls six to eight times within a five-day trip. These packages included paying tour guides from shopping commissions and hiring unlicensed tour guides to cut costs.

The metropolitan government will prevent sales of such tour packages by sharing the latest crackdown results and cooperating with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Chinese Embassy in Seoul.

“We need to be thoroughly prepared as damaging acts like dumping tour packages diminish the satisfaction of international tourists and harm tourism in Seoul that has been barely recovering,” said Kim Young-hwan, the director-general of the city’s Tourism and Sports Bureau.

According to the city government, it will go after unlicensed tour guides, particularly in popular destinations like Myeong-dong in central Seoul, with illegal travel packages being sold even on social media.

The city will also form a tourism ombudsperson — expanding from its report center that kicked off late last year — to crack down on illegal travel-related acts in Seoul. The system will comprise 10 experts who will be examining reported cases.

“We will put all our efforts into cutting illegal acts and form a fair tourism ecosystem by cooperating with related businesses and institutions.”

Meanwhile, the city government and Seoul Tourism Organization will hold a tourism business conference on Tuesday, where 250 tourism-related companies, including startups, hotels and airlines, will participate. The city said it is hosting the event to achieve its goal of attracting 20 million foreign travelers this year.

The city will share its action plan to successfully attract international tourists and different measures supporting travel startups and group tours during the event.

In September last year, the city government announced its grand plan to attract 30 million tourists a year, reach a 70 percent revisit rate, encourage individuals to spend 30 million won ($22,500) and make them stay for seven days in the capital by 2026.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]