South Korea’s Jeju Island seeks to impose tourism fees

From its blue skies and canola blossoms to endless coastal roads,

South Korea’s Jeju Island has long been touted as the “Hawaii of Asia”, and is an increasingly popular holiday destination for domestic and foreign tourists.

But its booming tourism has come with a price: an overload of garbage and sewage. To preserve its environment, the local authorities are looking to impose tourism fees, said a report by The Korea Times on Tuesday.

Tourists are expected to pay an average of 8,170 won (S$8.20) daily to enter Jeju. Some of the fees will include 1,500 won for each night of stay. Those who rent a car or minivan will be charged 5,000 won and 10,000 won respectively for each day. Tourists who rent a bus will be charged 5 per cent of the rental fee.

The fees are under review, said the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province on Sunday.

If the proposal is passed by the National Assembly, the fees will add 141 billion won to government coffers after the first year, and 167 billion won in the second year, according to the authority’s forecast in the report.

The move is not welcomed by all South Koreans, according to Seoul Economic Daily.

Some netizens expressed their unhappiness online, saying the fees are “excessive”.

For Singaporean Anna Lim, the fees are reasonable and she will continue to plan her visit to Jeju in 2024.

“It is a small amount, and honestly, if it helps to preserve Jeju Island’s environment, I don’t see what’s the problem,” the 28-year-old office assistant told The Straits Times.

More than 13 million people visited Jeju between Jan 1 and Dec 25, 2022, according to the Jeju Tourism Association.

This is a 16 per cent rise from the same period in 2021. More than 99 per cent of them were domestic tourists, given that international travel was restricted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Over the years, with the influx of tourism, the island has seen an overload of garbage and sewage. This has prompted local residents to nudge local authorities to consider implementing the fee.

In 2022, The Herald Insight reported that the island has been hit by an overload of garbage that ends up in the sea, threatening the island’s marine ecosystem and the livelihood of its residents.

Jeju’s government tried to introduce an entry fee in 2012, but faced opposition, according to The Korea Times.

In August 2022, the island’s government requested that the Korea Environment Institute, a state-run research company, study the feasibility of an entry fee for the island.

Jeju’s government plans to propose the Bill at the National Assembly by end-2023, as the research will be done by August.

Last week, Jeju Governor Oh Young-hun said at a provincial council that the introduction of the measure is “being very carefully planned” so that it can draw citizens’ support from across the country.

The island’s move comes as Hawaii lawmakers are also mulling over a US$40 (S$53) or US$50 “green fee” for tourists to better safeguard the US island’s natural resources.