The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) urged the public on the 9th to exercise particular caution, saying illegal schemes have recently emerged that promote planned campground developments and solicit investment in lot sales and memberships.
According to the MCST, campgrounds are a tourism business for which individual lot sales or membership sales are not permitted under the Tourism Promotion Act. The campground business is a tourism business that an operator must register and run as a whole, and selling individual camping sites or plots to individuals or selling them in the form of shares constitutes a violation of the Tourism Promotion Act.
Accordingly, anyone who sells camping facility lots in violation of the Tourism Promotion Act may face up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won, which can be imposed concurrently. If a local government imposes administrative measures, such as revoking registration, over a legal violation, the exercise of property rights over individually sold plots may also be restricted.
Officials point out that share owners cannot dispose of the land without the consent of other shareholders, raising concerns that their property rights could be significantly limited. "Selling lots or memberships while promising high returns from campground operations and management is clearly illegal, so please actively report such cases to the relevant local government," the MCST said.
MOLIT also said, "Promoting campground lot sales or membership sales with promises of high returns is not only illegal but can also lead to damages similar to land sale fraud by speculative real estate schemes, so please exercise caution in any purchase."
