A person surnamed Kang (29), who spent time living in Jeju every year, canceled the fall plan this year. Usually, Kang chose a quiet neighborhood without a car and stayed about a week, but changed plans after hearing recent news of a string of missing persons' bodies being found.
Kang said, "I usually traveled to relax while wandering around the neighborhood, but this missing-person case made me think it's scary for a woman to travel around Jeju alone."
An apparent body believed to be Jang Miran (37), who went missing in May, was found, and as bodies of missing people continue to surface in Jeju, anxiety is growing among those planning trips. There are even cases of people actually canceling travel plans or dissuading family members from traveling to Jeju.
In Jeju's tourism industry, which is already struggling with a decline in domestic tourists, there is concern that the succession of serious cases could further dampen travel sentiment.
◇ Posts debating canceling Jeju trips flood online
On the 25th, online communities saw a series of posts from people weighing whether to cancel upcoming Jeju trips.
One user said, "I have a Jeju trip scheduled in October, but it's hard to cancel," adding, "I wonder if at least the downtown area is okay." Another user who planned a family trip to Jeju said, "My child burst into tears at the mention of going to Jeju," and added, "If we cancel, we have to pay a penalty, so it's frustrating."
An office worker, a person surnamed Lee (23), said, "My mother said she's going to Jeju at the end of this year, so I tried to dissuade her, asking, 'Don't you know what happened in Jeju?'"
As bodies of missing people have been found one after another in Jeju, travelers' worries have grown. From the 22nd over three days, the bodies of four people who had been reported missing in Jeju were found in succession.
Police on the morning of the previous day found a body believed to be Jang at a farm in Hallim-eup, Jeju City. It was 101 days after the missing report. It was 400 meters in a straight line from the pension where Jang had been staying long term, a 10-minute walk.
Although a missing report for Jang was filed in May, Assistant Inspector Bu (in their 30s), who handled the case, falsely closed it, saying "contact was made." The body of a man in his 60s, which Assistant Inspector Bu had closed in a similar manner, was also found on the 22nd in Gujwa-eup, Jeju City.
Separately, on the 23rd a body believed to be a man in his 70s was found in Jocheon-eup, Jeju City, and on the 24th, another missing person's body was found in Aewol-eup, Jeju City.
◇ Local lodgings say, "We're getting concerned calls"
Urban legends also spread on social media (SNS), partly because the spot where Jang's body was found lies along a segment of the Jeju Olle Trail. Those running lodging businesses locally worry that safety concerns will drive customers away.
A, who runs a lodging business in Hallim-eup, said, "In addition to regular streetlights, temporary lights are installed every 20 to 30 meters, and it has felt safe enough that leaving doors open wasn't an issue," adding, "We often have solo travelers, and it doesn't seem right for the whole neighborhood to be stigmatized over a police problem."
B, who runs a lodging business nearby, also said, "This wasn't a neighborhood where we worried about public safety," adding, "Since the recent incident, we've been getting many calls tinged with concern."
Tension is also being felt in commercial areas. C, who leases retail space in Hallim-eup, sighed and said, "After the incident broke, a tenant who had a yearlong contract called to ask for the security deposit back."
◇ Domestic visitors in July fall below 1 million for the first time in 5 years
The reason Jeju's tourism industry is concerned is that the number of domestic tourists this summer was already weak.
According to the Jeju Tourism Organization (JTO), domestic visitors to Jeju in July numbered 963,401, down 12.4% (136,620) from 1,100,021 in the same month last year. It was the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 that Jeju's monthly domestic visitors fell below 1 million.
The decline has continued in August. From the 1st to the 23rd of this month, the daily average number of domestic visitors to Jeju was 35,295, about 300 fewer than 35,575 in the same period last year.