On the 17th, Busan City announced they would launch 'Overcharging QR Reporting System' to prevent harm to tourists during BTS' concerts scheduled for June 12 to 13. Domestic and international tourists can scan the QR code to report overcharging and the report will be forwarded through the Korea Tourism Organization to the relevant local governments and authorities.
The city has distributed QR reporting stickers and posters on accommodations and posted informational banners on its official website. In addition, the city plans to form a joint inspection teams with district office and begin on-site inspections on accommodations that receive complaints starting next week. If overcharging or violation of reservation conditions are found, they will be reflected int he hotel's official ratings.
The city also plans to hold a 'Tourism Readiness Inspection Meeting' with related agencies soon to discuss further measures against overcharging in accommodation rates.
Once the venue is announced, the city will also provide guidance on areas with high concentrations of accommodations that have good public transport access in order to disperse the surge in booking demand.
The city appears to be taking a more proactive stance following direct criticism and calls for strict action from President Lee Jaemyung on the pervious day. On the 16th, President Lee shared a report on X stating that accommodation prices skyrocketing up to 10 times the normal rate due to BTS' concert, saying "Malicious exploitation that destroys market order and causes major harm to everyone must be rooted out."
He further emphasized, "If overcharging is detected, measures must be taken so that the losses is far greater than the unfairly gained profit." Previously, President Lee had addressed this issue at a cabinet meeting in September, stating that overcharging undermines domestic tourism and instructed officials to 'move beyond administrative guidance and establish systems of fines and penalties.'
Busan Mayor Park Hyungjoon stated, "We will proactively block accommodations that overcharge through the QR reporting system and on-site inspections. We will mobilize all available administrative resources to support the success of BTS' concert."
1. [+2,352][-12] If local governments only start acting after the President calls them out, then they should just scrap local autonomy altogether.
2. [+2,27][-116] Does the Mayor of Busan seriously not see the problem here? Sigh...
3. [+1,945][-103] What exactly is Park Hyungjoon even doing?
