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| People spend their vacation at Geumneung Beach on Jeju Island, Thursday, even as the toughest Level 4 social distancing measures were imposed on the island two days ago, due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases. Yonhap |
Resort island sees decrease in number of visitors
By Jun Ji-hye
Hotels, car rental companies and golf course operators have been receiving increasing inquiries from customers about changing or cancelling their reservations, after the highest-level social distancing measures aimed at curbing COVID-19 infections were applied to the southern resort island earlier this week.
Jeju Special Self-Governing Province imposed Level 4, the highest in the country's four-tier social distancing plan, in the region, starting Aug. 18 through Aug. 29, in a bid to curtail the recent spike in virus cases following the continued inflow of tourists during the summer vacation season.
Level 4 bans private gatherings of three or more people after 6 p.m. and the operation of entertainment establishments, including nightclubs and bars. Twelve designated beaches were shut down as well.
The ban on private gatherings means that three or more people cannot stay in one room unless they are immediate family members who live at the same address and can present a certificate proving that they are family of the same household when checking in.
Level 4 also allows accommodations to accommodate guests in only two-thirds of their rooms, reducing the occupancy from the previous three-fourths.
Since the decision to impose Level 4 restrictions was announced, officials at hotels and other forms of accommodations have had to call each guest to check the number of people they are traveling with, as well as verify if they are immediate family members in the same household.
"We have also received many phone calls from guests who wanted to change or cancel their reservations," a representative from a five-star hotel in Jeju Island said, asking not to be named.
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| Tourists enjoy the sunset along a coastal road of Jeju Island, Wednesday. Yonhap |
Car rental companies have faced more complicated situations as, under Level 4, up to four people are allowed to board the same car until 6 p.m., and up to two are allowed after 6 p.m.
A person wrote in an online travel community, "Imagine this: four friends are traveling together using one rented car during the day, but they get stuck in traffic at 6 p.m. on their way to go back to their hotel, where two rooms are booked for them. In this case, should two of the friends get out of a car and walk to the hotel?"
Some are expressing complaints about car rental companies' policies of charging cancellation fees, claiming that such policies are contradictory to the Jeju provincial government's request for people to refrain from visiting the island.
Golf course operators are facing similar situations, as three or more people are not allowed to play golf together after 6 p.m.
According to the Jeju Tourism Association, the number of tourists entering the island on Aug. 17, a day before the new restrictions were to go into effect, stood at 28,266, down 33.6 percent from 42,563 tallied on the same day last year.
A representative from the association attributed the decrease in the number of visitors to the fact that the highest level of the social distancing measures has been put into effect.
"We expect the number of tourists to continue to decrease for the time being," he said.
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