Gwangyang City Takes Action to Eliminate Excessive Vacation Pricing

Operation of “Price Stabilization Countermeasures Period” at Vacation Spots until the End of August


Joint Inspections to be Conducted

Gwangyang City, Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special City, announced on July 21 that it has designated the period from July 1 to August 31 as the “Summer Vacation Price Stabilization Countermeasures Period” and is implementing measures to stabilize prices in order to prevent excessive pricing at vacation spots and establish sound commercial practices during the peak summer holiday season.

This initiative was designed to ensure that tourists visiting major local vacation destinations, such as valleys, can enjoy their holidays with peace of mind by preventing unfair charges and unfair business practices, as well as by managing local prices in a stable manner.

View of the Gwangyang City Hall.

The city, led by the Investment and Economy Division, is operating a joint guidance and inspection team involving relevant departments. The team is focusing on restaurants, lodging facilities, and vacation equipment rental businesses near major tourist spots such as valleys, conducting intensive inspections on issues such as excessive pricing, unjust seat charges, compliance with price labeling regulations, and mislabeling or non-disclosure of product origins.

In particular, following the amended Enforcement Rules of the Public Sanitation Management Act that came into effect on July 14, the city plans to focus its inspections on whether accommodation businesses are displaying room rate lists and whether they are adhering to the posted rates.

According to the amended rules, if a lodging business uses online interfaces such as websites or mobile apps for operations, it must display its room rate list not only at the front desk but also on its online screens, and must comply with the posted rates.

If an accommodation provider fails to display the rate list, or charges more than the posted rates, the administrative penalty standards have been strengthened so that even a single violation may result in business suspension. The penalties are: a five-day suspension for a first violation, ten days for a second, twenty days for a third, and business closure for a fourth violation.

The city will actively inform relevant associations in the accommodation industry about the changes, while providing on-site guidance for minor violations to be rectified immediately, and plans to take strict action in accordance with relevant laws for any intentional or repeated violations detected during inspections.

In addition, six price monitoring officers conduct weekly surveys on the prices of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products, industrial goods, and personal services at local supermarkets and traditional markets. The results of these surveys are published once a week on the city’s website, providing price information to both citizens and tourists.

Jo Dongsoo, head of the Investment and Economy Division, stated, “We will do our utmost to manage price stability so that tourists visiting Gwangyang during the holiday season can stay here with peace of mind,” and added, “We also ask accommodation businesses to actively cooperate in posting room rates both on- and offline and in complying with the posted prices as required by the revised regulations.”

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