Seoul struggles to preserve city landscape amid tourist influx

Tourists mill about in Bukchon Hanok Village, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Seoul. Korea Times file

Why overtourism is a problem for Seoul too

By Lee Suh-yoon

More people than ever are traveling around the world. According to the latest issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, there were 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals in 2018 and the figure is expected to grow another 4 percent this year.

Seoul, too, is not exempt from the global tourism surge. A popular destination for global K-pop fans and K-beauty patrons, the city absorbs around 80 percent of all international visitors to Korea according to Korea Tourism Organization data. In May alone, around 1.2 million visitors came to Seoul ― 20 percent higher than the same period last year.

In 2018, 12.3 million foreigners visited the city of 10 million residents ― almost a full recovery to the levels before China's travel bans started during the 2017 THAAD dispute. The tourist surge has multiple factors, including the rise in budget airlines' operations to Seoul as well as a growing middle class in neighboring China and Southeast Asian countries that want to travel.

The rising numbers are a welcoming sign. The country's prolonged economic slump could use the billions of dollars in revenue foreign tourists bring in each year.

But overtourism and its problems are still overlooked by policymakers in Seoul. After all, Seoul cannot be considered crowded on a relative scale compared to cities like Barcelona, where the number of yearly visitors outstrips residents 20 to 1.

Tourists fill the streets of Myeong-dong despite the rain, July 15. Korea Times photo by Hong Yoon-ki

Still, warning signs are appearing. Seoul is increasingly pockmarked with quarters that are grotesquely alienated from the actual city landscape. Insa-dong, once a thriving hub of painting studios, art supply stores and antique traders, is a bazaar for mass-produced souvenirs. Myeong-dong, just 2 kilometers south, is more an extension of an airport duty free shop now than the fashion hub that well-dressed Seoul citizens used to frequent, packed with tourist-geared cosmetics, clothing and bubble tea chains.

Foreigners looking for an Airbnb flat are now a common sight at lobbies of residential buildings in downtown Seoul. Tourist guesthouses are replacing elderly residents one by one in the city's few remaining hanok enclaves.

The city's tourism policies are still largely fixed on boosting the flow of foreign tourists. Last year, residents in Bukchon Hanok Village rallied in the streets, saying the excessive number of tourists in their neighborhood made their lives unbearable.

The city's response to Bukchon ― the first publicized overtourism issue here ― was more passive than proactive. Stand-by guides were hired among local residents to monitor tourists and lecture them on proper visiting etiquette like talking in low voices around residential areas and not leaving behind trash. More cleaning personnel were also assigned to the affected areas. The strongest measure introduced ― restricting visiting hours to the hanok-lined alleys of Bukchon's Gahoe-dong to from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday ― is not effective as it has no legal binding.

Red graffiti decrying "touristification" is painted all over a building at Ihwa Mural Village, Jongno, in this 2017 photo. Korea Times file

In 2016, a 55-year-old resident at Ihwa Mural Village took matters into his own hands. Ihwa Mural Village ― a residential neighborhood that was covered with art murals as part of the city's urban renewal scheme ― became a swarming den of tourists after featuring in a drama. After repeated complaints to Jongno-gu Office failed to yield any changes to the situation, he and others painted over the village's most famous stair mural in gray, saying the noise and trash caused by tourists made residents' lives unbearable.

Some of the anger has died down since last year but the problem is likely to persist and grow in the future without fundamental solutions.

The city says it is exploring ways to disperse crowds, with Bukchon as a test bed for such policies.

"In the case of Bukchon Hanok Village, we are using signs and maps to try and lead some visitors away from the most popular spots and residential areas to nearby public cultural sites like Baek In-je House and Gahoedong Catholic Church," said Choi Sook-hyun, a city official in the tourism division. "From a more macro level, we want to disperse tourists by developing tourism in small neighborhoods in other parts of the city."

The city also provides special funding to the 25 districts to develop new visit-worthy sites in their neighborhoods. There are no plans at the moment to implement any drastic measures like capping the number of visitors or banning commercial tour groups at key sites, Choi said.

Institutional checks are also being set out on a national level. On July 18, the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee passed a revision bill to the Tourism Promotion Law, submitted by Rep. Chung Sye-kyun of the Democratic Party of Korea representing the tourism-heavy Jongno-gu in Seoul. The bill will allow local district governments to actively implement special measures to curb excessive tourist flow in their regions.

Since 2016, the city government and Seoul Tourism Organization has also held the Seoul International Fair & Sustainable Tourism (SIFT) Forum annually to discuss sustainable tourism methods with other megacities. Its measures for Bukchon were a result of the first two SIFT forums. The city also hosted the 7th UNWTO Global Summit on Urban Tourism last September.