Complaints from foreign tourists over lodging price gouging and booking cancellations are mounting ahead of a BTS concert in Busan. With Korea approaching an era of 20 million inbound tourists, observers say measures are needed to raise the overall quality of tourism services, going beyond one-off crackdowns.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization on Friday, a total of 1,217 nationwide complaints were filed with the Tourist Complaint Center and the tourist interpretation hotline through May this year. That figure reaches about 70% of last year's 1,744 cases, and is expected to set a new all-time high. Tourist complaints surged more than threefold from 288 in 2022 to 902 in 2023, and have increased every year since.
This year, complaints have been particularly concentrated in Busan, where a BTS concert is scheduled for the 12th and 13th of this month. Last year, Seoul recorded the most complaints with 813, but this year Busan accounted for the largest share, with 486 cases filed through May.
That already exceeds Busan's annual complaint total for last year (239 cases). While "shopping"-related complaints over pricing disputes, refunds and exchanges had previously dominated, this year "general lodging" complaints involving booking cancellations and penalty fees were the most common. This is attributed to some lodging establishments unilaterally canceling reservations or raising room rates by capitalizing on the BTS concert.
Lodging rates near the Busan Asiad Main Stadium, where the concert is held, jumped by more than 10 times the usual price in some cases. On social media, complaints have continued, such as "my reservation was suddenly canceled on the grounds of exceeding capacity" and "after my booking was canceled, it was resold at a higher price a few hours later." This phenomenon of soaring lodging costs ahead of major concerts or holidays has been recurring. Earlier, during the BTS comeback show held in Gwanghwamun, Seoul in March, lodging rates in the Jung-gu and Jongno-gu areas also rose sharply.
The government and the city of Busan have moved to address the issue. They have secured about 1,300 alternative lodging facilities by utilizing university dormitories, public institution training centers, youth training facilities and religious facilities. They also plan to conduct special on-site inspections and impose administrative measures such as corrective orders or business suspensions if violations are found. Police are also examining suspicions related to lodging establishments. The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency is investigating some lodging establishments suspected of canceling existing reservations and reselling them at higher prices, on charges of fraud.
However, with not only lodging issues but complaints overall increasing each year, voices are calling for a fundamental improvement of the tourism environment. Various unfair practices and inconveniences undermine trust in domestic tourism services and act as factors discouraging revisits. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the revisit rate of foreign tourists to Korea fell from 64.7% in 2021 to 54.7% in 2024. The 2025 Comprehensive Analysis of Tourist Complaints shows that various complaints are repeatedly raised, including refusals of refund and product exchange requests, unfair taxi fare charges and refusals to use meters, and poor food price labeling.
Kim Nam-jo, a professor in the Division of Tourism at Hanyang University, said, "A concert ends in a single event, but the image of a country or region lingers for a long time through social media, so thorough management is needed." He added, "Strong sanctions should be considered, such as making business suspensions possible when unfair price hikes are detected." He continued, "Above all, a 'price-gouging safe-price system' that transparently discloses lodging rate ceilings must be introduced as soon as possible."
Some argue that the accessibility of the complaint system should be improved. Lee Eun-hee, a professor of consumer studies at Inha University, said, "Considering the number of inbound tourists, there are likely many cases of inconvenience that go unreported." She advised, "To devise effective measures, the languages in which complaints can be filed should be expanded, and promotion of the reporting channels should be strengthened."
