A piece of bacon that was "98% fat" angered tourists.

Geonip-dong, a black pork street on Jeju Island famous for its barbecue restaurants, was unusually quiet on June 3rd. Black pigs are a distinctive Korean breed of pig, distinguished by their black skin and hair.

Most restaurants, except those that only open at night, were operating but had few or no customers. Some shop owners went out into the street to solicit diners.

At one restaurant, only a group of foreign tourists were enjoying lunch, while domestic tourists were rarely seen on the streets, according to JoongAng .

The once bustling street is becoming increasingly deserted after an anonymous tourist posted a photo of pork belly that was "98% fat" at a local restaurant in late April. The excessively fatty meat sparked public outrage, among those already fed up with the exorbitant prices of food in Jeju.

Jeju, brother 1

Jeju is no longer an attractive destination for domestic tourists.

A vendor surnamed Yang (43 years old) said: "The street has suffered from Covid-19, but the number of tourists has dropped by more than half after the image of the fatty piece of meat went viral online."

Restaurant owners in Jeju said the incident negatively impacted domestic tourists, who make up 90% of visitors. Following the incident with the pork belly, other tourists began posting about their bad experiences with overpriced food in Jeju.

One tourist reported paying 160,000 won ( US$116 ) for galchi (a fish dish), while another spent over 100,000 won on drinks and desserts over four days. In response to the backlash, some mackerel restaurants reduced the price of grilled fish from 12,000 won to 10,000 won. But even that wasn't enough.

Korean social media is flooded with posts claiming that trips to Japan or Southeast Asian countries are more cost-effective than traveling to Jeju, further complicating the issue.

According to the Jeju Tourism Association, as of June 2nd this year, 5.01 million domestic tourists visited Jeju, a decrease of 7.8% compared to the same period last year. The total number of tourists reached 13.89 million in 2022 but decreased to 13.37 million last year, a decrease of 3.7%.

Domestic tourists saw an even larger decline of 8.3%, falling to 12.66 million in 2023 from 13.80 million in 2022. Since domestic tourists account for the majority of visitors to Jeju, this drop significantly impacted the revenue of local restaurants.

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Experts believe Jeju needs to improve the quality and affordability of its services if it wants to "save" its tourism industry.

According to the Jeju Tourism Association, tourist spending in the first quarter, measured by credit card transactions, decreased by 12.7% to 541.59 billion won compared to 620.56 billion won in the same period last year.

The number of domestic flights to Jeju International Airport also decreased by 530, or 2%, totaling 25,579 flights, with 125,630 fewer seats available, a 2.5% decrease compared to the same period last year. Conversely, international flights to Jeju and the number of available seats more than tripled during the same period, reaching 4,658 flights and 851,110 seats.

To address the decline in domestic tourism, Jeju Island will establish an emergency response committee to revitalize its tourism sector. The committee, comprising approximately 25 members, will include representatives from the tourism industry, officials from relevant organizations, and a group of experts.

The committee will investigate the issues and develop solutions to restore the tourism industry. In addition, the Jeju Tourism Service Center will be established. The Jeju Tourism Organization and the Jeju Tourism Association will cooperate to provide tourism information and promptly address tourism-related complaints.

Experts suggest that Jeju also needs to provide quality services at reasonable prices and improve its marketing strategy to generate public interest.

Hong Seong-hwa, a professor of Tourism Management at Jeju National University, emphasized the urgent need to change Jeju's negative image. "Together with businesses in the tourism industry, we need to strengthen innovative and unique 'Jeju marketing' activities to spark people's curiosity and make them want to visit the island," Professor Hong said.

According to Znews

A 14-year-old Vietnamese boy who found work in Europe is now the owner of 9 large restaurants in Germany . From a poor rural area (Thuong Loc village, Nghi Van commune, Nghi Loc district, Nghe An province ), Tuyen came to Germany at the age of 14, enduring years of hardship and hunger, but resolutely sought an honest and upright path to change his life.