---
title: "30 Years of Korean Pensions: It's Time to Sell the Morning, Not Just the Room"
description: "30 Years of Korean Pensions: It's Time to Sell the Morning, Not Just the Room..."
published: 2026-10-08T00:00:00.000Z
author: "ONDA 편집팀"
category: "Weekly ON"
image: "https://onda.me/images/blog/weeklyon-vol-171/cover.png"
canonical: https://onda.me/en/blog/weeklyon-vol-171/
locale: en
---
# 30 Years of Korean Pensions: It's Time to Sell the Morning, Not Just the Room

# Weekly ON Vol.171

**October 8, 2026**

---

## This Week's Weekly ON

🏨 30 Years of Korean Pensions: It's Time to Sell the Morning, Not Just the Room
💡 Foreign visitors lift Jeju tourism spending as the center of gravity in lodging shifts

⌨️ #Hotel #Booking #Travel

---

## 🏠 Industry Story

# 30 Years of Korean Pensions: It's Time to Sell the Morning, Not Just the Room

Last summer, a pension in Chuncheon charged KRW 1.4 million for one night in a four-person room. On the 17th, after peak season ended, the same room went for KRW 99,000. The headline of the news article was "No wonder people go overseas."

![](https://onda.me/images/blog/future-of-korean-pension-market/thumbnail.jpg)

Hyunseok Oh, CEO of ONDA, founded the Korean guesthouse booking service "Hanintel" in 2008 and ran it for 10 years, then established ONDA in 2016 and has since led the digital transformation of the lodging industry. In this scene, he saw a crisis for pensions. In Korea's leisure lodging market, the pension share fell from 25% in 2017 to 18% in 2025, while hotels rose from 17% to 30% over the same period.

Yet Oh does not view price gouging and checkout cleaning disputes purely as a matter of owners' character. He suggests the problem may be structural. He also points out that the amendment to Korea's Act on Urban-Rural Exchange, passed by the National Assembly on October 1, contains changes that could shake up that structure. Now that operating companies can formally enter the market, what should be the existing owners' weapon?

More striking is a single sentence in the amendment. In fact, this provision is not new; it has existed for 11 years, yet only a handful of pensions have actually made use of it.

If the law never blocked it, what is the real reason pension owners failed to use that sentence for the past 11 years?

👉 [Continue reading](https://onda.me/en/blog/future-of-korean-pension-market/)

---

## 💡 Hospitality Trends

# Foreign Visitors Lift Jeju Tourism Spending as the Center of Gravity in Lodging Shifts

In the first half of this year, Jeju's tourism market shifted to a structure in which spending by foreign visitors drives growth while spending by Korean nationals has stalled. According to estimates by the Jeju Tourism Organization based on BC Card payment data, tourist spending in Jeju in the first half totaled KRW 1.3141 trillion, up 6.4% year over year. On the surface this looks like modest growth, but a closer look shows that the engine of growth has changed entirely. It is time for owners to review their room sales strategies in light of this shift.

![](https://onda.me/images/blog/weeklyon-vol-171/chart_1.png)

## Key Data

Spending by foreign visitors reached KRW 305.0 billion, up 44.4% (KRW 93.7 billion), accounting for 23.2% of total spending. By contrast, spending by Korean nationals swung from a 6.1% increase in Q1 to a 7.7% decrease in Q2, falling 1.5% for the first half overall. This is also why total spending growth in Q2 was only 0.6%.

By sector, restaurants, cafés and bakeries accounted for KRW 497.2 billion, retail for KRW 466.4 billion, and lodging for KRW 227.6 billion. What stands out is the difference in spending patterns. Korean nationals spent most on restaurants (KRW 424.5 billion), followed by retail (KRW 388.0 billion) and lodging (KRW 97.4 billion), whereas foreign visitors spent most on lodging at KRW 130.2 billion, followed by retail at KRW 78.4 billion and restaurants at KRW 72.7 billion. Among foreign visitors, those from Greater China were overwhelmingly dominant. In Q2, Greater China spending came to KRW 85.1 billion, or 45.8% of foreign visitor spending, and Chinese tourists in the first half numbered 789,387, or 65.5% of all foreign visitors (1,204,783).

## Market Impact

The biggest implication is that lodging is the largest spending category for foreign visitors. Of the KRW 227.6 billion in first-half lodging revenue, foreign visitors accounted for KRW 130.2 billion, or roughly 57%. In other words, more than half of lodging revenue comes from foreign visitors. Over the same period, lodging spending by Korean nationals was only KRW 97.4 billion.

In addition, foreign visitors center their spending on lodging, while Korean nationals center theirs on food and retail. If the Q2 slowdown in demand from Korean nationals continues, properties highly dependent on Korean guests may feel pressure on both average daily rate and occupancy. Meanwhile, with visitor numbers rising ahead of China's National Day holiday, illegal operations such as unregistered travel agencies and unlicensed paid transport, along with safety concerns, are also increasing, and Jeju Province has launched an intensive crackdown. This shows that such management issues can grow alongside demand from any single country.

## Recommended Actions

First, review your booking channels and guest mix. For properties with a low share of foreign guests, a good starting point is to check your exposure on overseas OTAs, whether you provide detailed information in Chinese and English, and whether you support overseas payment methods. Second, using translation tools or chatbots that automate multilingual responses lets even small properties handle foreign inquiries without adding staff. Third, it is important to diversify across markets, including Asia, North America and Europe, so you are not overly reliant on any one country. Fourth, make sure that partner travel agencies and transport services are properly registered businesses.

---
Source: [joongang](https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/25467310)

---

## ⌨️ Keyword News

### 1️⃣ After Jeju Chlorine Gas Incident, Special Inspections of Swimming Pools Across the Province

**Summary:** Following a chlorine gas leak at the swimming pool of a 5-star hotel (59 people taken to hospital), Jeju Province will conduct special inspections of swimming pools and water-play facilities across the province and strengthen chemical safety management.

**Details:** On the 1st, at a hotel in Seogwipo, an employee refilling pool disinfectant mistakenly poured sodium hypochlorite into the container of pH adjuster, generating chlorine gas. Concentrations in the mechanical room exceeded the permissible limit by more than 100 times, and the gas spread throughout the hotel, sending 59 guests and staff to the hospital. Jeju Province will inspect chemical types, storage locations, labeling, dosing methods, handler training and initial response systems, and will distribute guidance materials covering dosing point labeling and cross-checking procedures. Step-by-step response manuals, from incident reporting through evacuation and hazardous substance measurement, will also be updated. Properties that operate swimming pools are advised to check chemical container labels and dosing inlet markings, and to arrange safety training for responsible staff and evacuation procedures in advance.

👉[After Jeju Chlorine Gas Incident, Special Inspections of Swimming Pools Across the Province](https://www.donga.com/news/Society/article/all/20261007/134804630/2)

### 2️⃣ Beyond Gangnam to Myeongdong: Foreign Medical Tourism Spending Surges

**Summary:** From January to August this year, foreign medical tourism payments in Seoul reached KRW 1.2158 trillion, up 64.2% year over year, and Myeongdong has emerged as a new medical tourism hub alongside Gangnam.

**Details:** According to the Korea Tourism Data Lab of the Korea Tourism Organization, eight-month payments have already approached last year's full-year total (KRW 1.3002 trillion). In Myeongdong, pharmacies increased by 24 this year to 70, and dermatology clinics increased by 16 to 72, making it the area with the highest payments after Seocho 4-dong. Jung-gu analyzed that demand has grown for handling treatment, pharmacy and shopping in one place. Properties in the Myeongdong and Gangnam areas should consider medical tourists' longer stays and repeat-visit demand, and review hospital-linked packages and foreign-language guidance services.

👉[Beyond Gangnam to Myeongdong: Foreign Medical Tourism Spending Surges](https://www.donga.com/news/Society/article/all/20261007/134797133/2)

### 3️⃣ East Coast Land Prices Soar Over 10 Years: Sokcho Up 39%, Yangyang Up 38%

**Summary:** Land prices in the six cities and counties along Gangwon's east coast have risen across the board over 10 years, but the registered population has fallen by more than 30,000. Sokcho, Yangyang and Goseong, where lodging facilities are concentrated, exceeded the national average increase.

**Details:** From August 2016 to August 2026, cumulative land price changes were 39.097% in Sokcho, 38.061% in Yangyang and 37.903% in Goseong, all above the national average (35.370%). Over the same period, the population of the six east coast cities and counties fell 6.2%, from 516,278 to 484,349, more than double the decline for Gangwon as a whole (2.7%). Demand for tourism and lodging development has pushed up both sale prices and rents, but the settled population has not grown. Lodging operators should review how land price increases affect profitability when buying or leasing sites, and also consider the difficult labor supply conditions in these regions.

👉[East Coast Land Prices Soar Over 10 Years: Sokcho Up 39%, Yangyang Up 38%](https://www.kwnews.co.kr/article/20261006500049)

### 4️⃣ Foreign Tourists Spent KRW 7.7 Trillion in Seoul from January to August; Lodging Accounts for 10.4%

**Summary:** From January to August this year, a record 11.56 million foreign visitors came to Seoul, and card spending reached KRW 7.7813 trillion, up 59.9% year over year.

**Details:** The number of foreign visitors rose 21.6% from the same period last year, and August alone drew 1.72 million visitors, a monthly record. By category, the spending shares were shopping 46.6%, medical and wellness 23.8%, food and beverage 13.2% and lodging 10.4%. Spending has spread to neighborhood commercial districts (up 80.9%), with large increases near Dosan Park (up 240.1%), Seongsu-dong (up 206.6%) and Gwangjang Market (up 127.4%). The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to develop DDP, Namsan, Gwanghwamun and the Han River as four major nighttime landmarks to extend visitors' length of stay. Properties near fast-growing districts such as Seongsu and Dosan may want to strengthen district-linked products and multilingual guidance for foreign guests.

👉[Foreign Tourists Spent KRW 7.7 Trillion in Seoul from January to August; Lodging Accounts for 10.4%](https://www.seoul.co.kr/news/publicnews/local_govern/news_local/2026/10/07/20261007019008?wlog_tag3=naver)

### 5️⃣ Yangpyeong County Signs Agreement with Lodging Industry to Promote Extended-Stay Tourism

**Summary:** Yangpyeong County has signed an agreement to promote extended-stay tourism with the Park Golf Association, the Tourism Pension Cooperative and the Yangpyeong branch of the Korea Lodging Association, offering park golf course benefits and gift certificate refunds to guests of participating lodging facilities.

**Details:** Under the agreement, visitors from outside the county who stay at participating lodging facilities receive the benefit of same-day, first-come, first-served on-site ticketing at the Yangpyeong Park Golf Course. Guests who make advance reservations and stay overnight receive part of their lodging fee refunded in Yangpyeong Love Gift Certificates. The county plans to energize the local economy by linking sports events and tourism to lodging and local commercial districts. Yangpyeong County is also considering restructuring bus routes and introducing a demand-responsive transport (DRT) system, which is expected to improve visitors' accessibility. Participating in local government cooperation programs can secure extended-stay demand, so lodging operators in the area are encouraged to check whether they can join as participating properties.

👉[Yangpyeong County Signs Agreement with Lodging Industry to Promote Extended-Stay Tourism](https://www.gukjenews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=3712317)

---

© ONDA - Weekly ON