The Korea Times
The National Assembly passed a sweeping amendment to the Tourism Promotion Act, in an effort to sanitize a tourism industry long plagued by predatory "dumping" practices and the disappearance of travelers into the underground labor market. The legislation, announced Friday by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, targets the country’s "designated travel agencies" — firms specifically licensed to handle large-scale tour groups from countries with which Korea maintains bilateral tourism agreements. For years, the sector has been haunted by so-called "zero-dollar tours," where agencies lure travelers with impossibly cheap packages, only to recoup losses by forcing visitors into aggressive shopping excursions at designated boutiques. Under the new law, such coercive tactics are now strictly forbidden. The amendment explicitly bans agencies from taking excessive commissions from shops or using those kickbacks to pay the wages of tour guides — a practice that often led guides to harass tourists into making purchases. Agencies found in violation face a suspension of operations fo
Go to News Site