The Jeju tourism industry is changing. More visitors are coming on their own, rather than as part of a group tour. That has led some in the sector to call for a revision in marketing strategies. Joseph Kim has more.
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Ora-dong, Jeju City

Guest house owner Park Joon-tae has been busy with a continuous inflow of guests during the off-peak season.

His guest house is full of individual travelers. These days, he is noticing a rise in the number of foreign individual tourists.

Interview
Park-Joon-tae / Guest house owner
More foreign travelers have been coming on their own for the past three or four years. In the last couple of years, there’s really been a lot of Chinese tourists, especially, traveling independently.
<박준태/게스트하우스 운영>
"3~4년 사이 외국인 개별 관광객이 특히 많이 늘었고
최근 1~2년 안에 중국인 개별 관광객이 많이 늘어났어요."

The tourism industry is changing in large part due to travelers in their 20s and 30s who prefer individual travel itineraries.


According to research by the Jeju Tourism Organization, among domestic tourists who visited Jeju in 2015, individual tourists accounted for 89% of the total.


This trend has extended to foreign travelers as well. Having increased nearly twofold, more than half are traveling independently.

To address this change, the JTO will develop a system to improve access to tourism information for travelers.

Interview
Yang Pil-soo / Jeju Tourism Organization
We are developing a smartphone app, so tourists can easily access all the information they need about Jeju in one place.
<양필수/제주관광공사 경쟁력강화처장>
"손쉽게 제주 여행을 즐길 수 있도록
스마트 관광 플랫폼 구축 사업을 전개하고 있습니다.
완성되면 여행객들이 휴대폰 하나로 제주에 관한//
**수퍼체인지**
정보를 쉽게 찾으면서
여행할 수 있을 것으로 기대하고 있습니다."

[camera]
Kim Yong-min

[REPORTER]
Joseph Kim

However, the system still needs improvement since getting information is still difficult without the assistance of a guide, and figuring out public transportation to and from tourist attractions can be confusing.

Joseph Kim KCTV