Seoul steps up crackdown on ‘dumping tours’ aimed at Chinese visitors amid rise in complaints

South Korea’s capital city will step up its crackdown on unfair tourism practices – better known as “dumping tours” – to prevent them from hurting the city’s reputation as a popular tourist destination amid a surge in inbound tourists, the Seoul metropolitan government has said.

“Dumping tours” refer to package tours offered by travel agencies at unusually low prices, in which they usher tourists to stores and force them to buy overpriced products such as cosmetics, nutritional supplements and duty-free items.

Among 3,097 Seoul tourism packages sold on four major online platforms in China, a survey of the 100 lowest-priced revealed that 85 were suspected of promoting dumping tours. The products were identified as suspicious for including shopping in their itineraries and for having sales prices lower than the sum of airfare and stay expenses.

Of these 85 suspicious packages, 45 were confirmed to involve shopping trips six to eight times during the five-day, four-night tour schedule.

Typically, these tours employ unqualified guides or compensate guides with shopping-related incentives instead of wages, thereby incorporating numerous shopping trips into the itinerary.

The most frequently visited shopping sites through these travel products are duty-free shops and souvenir shops. Notably, tourist complaints have risen, particularly regarding the exorbitant prices of functional foods sold at souvenir shops.

To address this issue, the city government plans to exert comprehensive efforts in managing the quality of tourism in Seoul by implementing strict pre-emptive measures and responses against various unfair practices, including dumping tours.

As a preliminary measure, the city will share the survey results with the Ministry of