S.Korea's Jeju Looks East, South For Tourists: Government Officials

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The Jeju tourism market and the foreign-only casino sector, which were visited by many tourists from mainland China before the pandemic, will have to adapt and try to diversify their tourism source markets. A government official on the Korean holiday island said in a comment to GGRAsia at the headquarters of local authorities (pictured). 파친코

"Given China's current pressure on casinos, we don't expect market contributions "from Chinese tourists" through mainland China in the coming years," said Ko Byung-hoon, deputy director of the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Casino Policy Division.

He added: "We want to focus more on the Japanese, Taiwanese and South Asian markets, marketing and junket promotion in the short term."

He added, "We are paying particular attention to Japan's rich 'baby boomers.' The terms are commonly used by marketing experts to classify people who were born between 1946 and 1964 and are now in their late 50s to mid-70s.

Jeju has eight foreigner-only casino buildings, some of which are still closed for several reasons. In September, the local government asked all casinos to reopen unless it could provide a legitimate reason not to reopen by the fall.

The chief executive of Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino, which has already reopened, recently told GGRAsia that the venue hopes to see an increase in commercial international air services to the island.

Koh, of the local authorities, told GGRA Asia that it would be able to wisely support GGRA Asia in public policy, if only to benefit ordinary tourists as well as casino tourism. The reason was sentiment among some of the local people against casinos.

However, he noted, "Jeju Dream Tower has an advantage over our Jeju industry colleagues because it has "the ability to organize chartered flights" and has enjoyed "close proximity to the airport."

Ko has been adjusting local casino regulations directly since 2015, highlighting his role with casino policies to maintain the odds of the local casino industry.

"We have contributed to clearing the 'dark image' of Jeju casinos because they were related to problems such as fraud and prostitution," he said.

Jeju has its own regulatory rules for casinos since 2009.

Ko also briefly mentioned a bill that, if passed by the National Assembly, may allow proxy bets through live casino floors in South Korea.

"We are watching the current situation as we have recognized anti-casino sentiment in the course of discussing the bill," he said.