Selling Camping Sites in Parcels Is Illegal... Caution Urged Over 'High-Return Memberships'

Culture and Land Ministries Warn of Risks in Camping Site Sales and Share Investments
Individual Camping Site Sales and Membership Promotions Violate Tourism Promotion Act

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on July 9 that there have been recent illegal cases in which individuals are solicited to purchase or invest in memberships by advertising planned camping site developments, and urged the public to exercise caution.

Campground panorama. The photo is unrelated to the article. Photo by The Asia Business Daily Database

According to the two ministries, under the Tourism Promotion Act, camping sites are tourism businesses where individual sales or membership sales are not permitted. The camping site business must be registered and operated as a whole by the business owner, and any act of selling camping sites or land to individuals, either separately or in the form of shares, constitutes a violation of the Tourism Promotion Act.

If a camping facility is sold in violation of the Tourism Promotion Act, the violator may face imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won. Both imprisonment and fines can be imposed concurrently. If an administrative penalty such as registration cancellation by the local government is imposed for violating the law, exercising property rights over individually sold sites may also be restricted.

The government especially cautioned against investments in the form of shares. Shareholders may face significant restrictions on exercising their property rights, as it is difficult to dispose of the land without the consent of other shareholders.

The Board of Audit and Inspection also released cases uncovered during audits of local governments. In a county in Gyeonggi Province, a business operator was found to have advertised sales of memberships worth about 100 million won or individual parcel registration, claiming that high profits could be generated even before obtaining a permit for camping site development. In another case, a camping site operator purchased land that had received a permit for development as a single-family home site in a nearby area, then advertised it as an individual camping site for sale without obtaining a change of use permit.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism explained that regardless of whether a camping site has been registered or not, all forms of individual sales by zone, membership sales, and share sales are prohibited. The ministry also warned that those who purchase land involved in illegal development activities may face restrictions on exercising their property rights in the future.

Kang Dongjin, Director of Tourism Policy at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, "Selling parcels or memberships by promising high returns from the operation or management of a camping site is illegal, so please report any such cases to the relevant local authorities."

Kim Gidae, Head of the Real Estate Consumer Protection Planning Team at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "Promoting camping site sales or membership sales by promising high returns is not only illegal, but can also result in damages similar to speculative real estate land fraud, so please exercise caution when making purchases."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.