Jeju is 'overwhelmed' and wants a tourist tax. But will South Korea come on board?
It's big, green and beautiful, with the highest mountain in South Korea. There is a lot to fancy about Jeju Island, the nation's leading tourist destination and a Unesco World Heritage site.
But now that admiration is starting to dip, with the hotspot, 452km (280 miles) south of Seoul, facing an online backlash over its plan to deter at least some of its millions of visitors by means of an entry tax.
Thousands of angry comments have flooded several news websites criticising the plan, after the news broke on Monday.
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The 1,800 sq km island - South Korea's largest - has a relatively mild temperature for the region and is famous for much, including its awe-inspiring coastline, spring flowers, 7.4km-long "lava tube" cave, and female divers.
Such attractions have brought in huge numbers of visitors, far more than the local population, with the annual figure more than doubling over 10 years to hit a peak of 13.6 million in 2019, before crashing to 1 million the following year during the pandemic.
As lockdowns eased, 12 million people visited Jeju in 2021, followed by 13.8 million last year, including 86,000 foreigners. Locals say such numbers are simply unsustainable.
"As tourists have resumed overwhelming this island with a population of some 670,000, the idea of deterring overtourism with an entry tax is making a comeback," said Kim Jeong-do, policy director of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM) of Jeju.
The proposal was first floated in 2012 when the number of tourists to Jeju, including those on inexpensive package tours, passed the 10-million mark, overloading infrastructure and the natural environment.
But the idea was shot down by the central government, which was against establishing a precedent of creating a new tax to benefit just one area.
Provincial governments are not allowed to establish a new tax without legislation by the National Assembly, although they are allowed to receive "donations" for causes such as environmental protection.
Nonetheless, Jeju authorities are again considering introducing a law at the assembly that would charge tourists an average of 8,170 won (US$6.20) per person, per day.
The fees will include 1,500 won per night, 5,000 won per day for those renting a car - 10,000 won for a minivan - and 5 per cent of the fee for renting a bus, according to the Jeju government.
Jeju Governor Oh Young-hun said this month that legislation to curb overtourism was being prepared for parliamentary approval.
"We're handling this issue cautiously as this move would become feasible only after it secures popular support from across the country," he told the Jeju provincial council this month.
Representative Wi Seong-gon of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, who represents Jeju, introduced a bill in the assembly last December to raise a "pro-environment fee" but discussions on the move have not yet started.
The proposal sparked anger online, with many people proposing a boycott of Jeju, which is 73km across, from east to west, and 31km from north to south.
"Jeju people should in return be charged landing fees when they enter the mainland," one person wrote on the Chosun newspaper's website, attracting more than 3,000 likes.
Kim of KFEM said the island's roads and water supplies and its sewage and waste-disposal facilities were being "overwhelmed" by tourists, against the backdrop of a rising local population, which grew by 100,000 in the past decade, reaching 670,000 last year.
New incinerators were being built to treat waste, as existing ones were operating beyond capacity while plans to build additional sewage-treatment facilities were being met with objections from nearby residents, he said.
Some roads were more crowded than those in Seoul, with crime, including sex crimes, also on the increase, he said.
Overcrowding is also having a direct impact not only on the supply of water, but also its make-up. "Due to excessive [groundwater] pumping in coastal areas, saltwater has begun to move inland, leading to saltwater contamination of the fresh water in some places," Kim said.
"It all comes down to the issue of how to balance economic needs against [the needs of] the environment," he added.
However, the tourism industry is opposed to the entry-tax proposal, saying it will make tourists turn away from the island at a time when other destinations are going all out to take advantage of post-pandemic spending.
The levy "couldn't have come at a worse time", said Kim Nam-jin of the Jeju Tourism Association, as Jeju - which relies on tourism for almost 70 per cent of its income - had barely recovered from pandemic lockdowns. Tourists would also "feel discriminated against" as there was no such tax elsewhere in the country, he added.
Jeju would not be the first place to have a tourist tax. Italy's Venice, which has had an "overnight tax" since 2011, is set to have each visitor pay an entrance tax of up to €10 (US$11), including those on day trips, starting this summer.
Hawaii is considering introducing a US$50 permit for tourists to help manage and pay for the upkeep of its natural environment. Indonesia's island of Bali is also mulling over a visitor tax.
Suh Yong-kun, a tourism management professor at Jeju National University, said it was far from clear whether a tourism levy could be enacted into South Korean law.
"Many people think it's not fair for Jeju to put the burden for environmental damage wholly on tourists as the residents' population growth there is also responsible," Suh said. "This move should be implemented very carefully and gradually. Otherwise, it will be met with a strong backlash."
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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