[멈춰선 제주]③’With Corona’ A luxury hotel with a strong rainfall…Globalization with a long way to go

Input 2021.02.15 10:00

Amid the coronavirus infection (Corona 19), people around the world are tied up, and there is also a movement to take a leap forward in the Jeju-do tourism industry. At the forefront are the luxury hotels.

According to the Jeju Provincial Office, there were 132 hotels in Jeju Island as of January this year. Among them, 15 places received 5 stars, including Shilla Hotel Jeju, Lotte Hotel Jeju, Grand Hyatt Jeju, and Maison Glad Jeju. Excluding Seoul, Jeju Island has the most luxury hotels among the administrative districts in Korea.

Nevertheless, the demand for luxury accommodation has steadily increased. This is because the income level of Koreans, who account for about 80% of the tourists visiting Jeju, has steadily increased.

The gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of Koreans, reflecting the purchasing power evaluation based on the World Bank (WB)’s 2019 aggregate standards, is 43,143 dollars (about 48 million won). In the past 30 years, per capita national income has more than quadrupled. Compared to 2009 ($29644), which was 10 years ago, it increased by nearly 50%.

Among those in their twenties and thirties, the trend toward not only consuming’cost-effectiveness’, which emphasizes cost-efficiency, but also consuming’cost-effectiveness’, which means satisfaction versus price, attracted the attention of real estate developers and hotels. It was judged that the proper direction for both the’with Corona’ scenario where Corona 19 became a commonplace and the’post Corona’ scenario where the corona crisis was ended is to provide a variety of experiences and advanced facilities.

‘Grand Hyatt Jeju’, a five-star hotel, opened in Jeju Dream Tower, which opened at the end of last year, and’Grand Chosun Jeju’ of Chosun Hotels & Resorts opened last month. Grand Chosun Jeju is preparing for the provincial government’s hotel rating evaluation. The hotel believes that 5-star certification is influential.

In the second half of this year, the Marriott Group’s JW Marriott Hotel is scheduled to be opened in Jeju, and the Parnas Hotel’s new luxury hotel in 2022 will be opened in Jeju. Global hotels armed with various elements such as unique services, interiors, and gourmet are competing in Jeju’s tourism market.

◇ Stars pouring into Jeju … advance to 5-star hotels

After several decades of delay, the Jeju Dream Tower Complex Resort, which opened in December of last year, is located in Nohyeong-dong, the center of Jeju City. Its strength is its location within 10 minutes by car from Jeju Airport.

Introduced’Grand Hyatt’, the premium hotel brand of Hyatt Hotels & Resorts. It has 1,600 rooms including suites, 14 food and beverage establishments, a spa, a swimming pool, and shopping facilities such as the’HAN Collection’, which collects clothes and miscellaneous goods from famous Korean designers. Jeju Tourism Development, the developer, is also preparing a license for foreigner-only casinos to make Dream Tower Complex Resort a new landmark in Jeju.

Grand Hyatt Jeju has fully demonstrated the strengths of a global hotel chain in food and beverage industries such as restaurants, cafes and bars. At the Chinese restaurant’China House,’ you can taste all the representative menus from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Sichuan, and at the’Jeju Hotpot’, you can enjoy Sichuan-style hot pot made with local ingredients and spices sourced from China. have. The two restaurants are led by Chef Vincent Wong, who oversees the Chinese restaurant chain at Shangri-La’s Hong Kong headquarters, a global hotel group.

‘Grand Kitchen’, a multinational buffet, is overseen by Chef Kim Young-min from Wynn Macau, a luxury hotel, and Chef Hiroshi Shimada, from a three-star Michelin restaurant, serves Japanese restaurant’Yumeyama’. Chef Mario is in charge of the kitchen at Cafe 8, an Italian restaurant. The bakery shop’Deli’ is led by Godiva-born Chocolatier (chocolate product expert) Philippe Douer.

In Seogwipo City on the other side of Jeju City, Chosun Hotels & Resorts, a native hotel brand, opened’Grand Chosun Jeju’. This is the second hotel to apply the premium brand’Grand Chosun’, which was first introduced in Busan last year. It is located in Jungmun Tourist Complex, a representative tourist destination in Jeju, and boasts a location where you can see both the sea and Hallasan Mountain.

Chosun Hotels & Resorts acquired the E-Land Group’s Kensington Hotel, remodeled its main building, and built a new building (Hill Suites) where all rooms are suites. It has 271 guest rooms, 6 food and beverage facilities, and 5 indoor and outdoor heated pools.

Hwang Seon-pyo, head of the real estate frontier division of SK D&D, a real estate development company that participated in the Kensington Hotel remodeling project, said, “As the income level of Koreans rises, the travel experience increases, and the hotel facilities and services become fashionable, like a hocance (hotel vacation). The consumer’s eye level on the issue has risen, but in the meantime, hotels newly supplied to Jeju Island have mainly been 2- to 3-star hotels for accommodation only. “As domestic consumers’ perceptions have changed, they are’luxury resort-type luxury hotels with specialized auxiliary facilities’ We decided that the demand for this would increase more and more, so we promoted the business.”

Park Ki-cheol, general manager of Grand Chosun Jeju, said, “In order to differentiate from other hotels while maintaining the location of Jungmun specializing in tourism, we divided the customer base into four groups to provide facilities and services suitable for them.” The new building’Hill Sweet’, which has a swimming pool, sauna, and restaurant as exclusive facilities for families and young couples with children through a pool party (pool party) using an outdoor swimming pool, is newlywed with customers who want a quiet trip. It is aimed at travelers,” he said.

The Marriott Group’s’JW Marriott Hotel Jeju’, which is scheduled to open in December this year, is expected to be built in 198 rooms. In Jeju Shinhwa World, it has advanced into the five-star’Marriott’ brand, but this time,’JW Marriott’, a brand with more advanced facilities and interiors, will be introduced to Jeju.

A Marriott International official said, “Jeju Island is a region where the demand of Korean tourists is concentrated even after the coronavirus, and the demand for enjoying the’premium travel’ experience is increasing among domestic consumers. I decided to do it.”

GS Retail, a strategic investor (SI), plans to develop hotels and shopping malls on the site of’Jeju The Shore Hotel (formerly Hyatt Regency Jeju)’ purchased by Blue Cove Asset Management, a real estate fund. A new building will be built with the goal of opening in 2022. It is expected that the Grand Intercontinental Hotel in Seoul and Parnas Hotel, a GS Retail subsidiary operated by Parnas Mall, will be in charge.

◇ Jeju, thirsty for the advancement of the tourism industry…

The hotel industry agrees that in order for the Jeju tourism industry to develop, the tourist base of Jeju must be diversified. It does not simply mean that you have to find Jeju in various countries. It is pointed out that in addition to general tourism, the MICE industry, a high value-added industry, should be fostered.

The MICE industry is a service industry that collectively refers to meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions. As the tourism industry targets companies, not individuals, the number of visitors is large, and the amount of expenditure per tourist is large in terms of rental of event venues and use of various tourism products. When a famous global event is held, businessmen from all over the world visit it, and the effect of promoting the region is great.

According to the Singapore Tourism Board’s 2019 report, Singapore’s MICE industry creates more than 34,000 jobs. The Government-affiliated Singapore Enterprise Agency (ESG), Singapore Tourism Agency, and Singapore Exhibition and Convention Association (SACEOS) prepared the’Industrial Recovery Roadmap (IRR)’ last year, and prepared for the post-corona era, including safety measures to gradually resume business events. It has created a standard for the MICE industry.

The World Economic Forum (WEF), which was held in Davos, Switzerland at the beginning of each year, moves to Singapore on an unusual basis this year. We chose Singapore, where corona 19 quarantine and safety measures are strictly enforced, and facilities such as event facilities and lodging facilities are well established. More than 1,000 people from all over the world will participate from August 17th to 30th, and Marina Bay Sands will be a prominent event venue.

The Singaporean government is also working hard to foster complex cultural spaces such as Macau and Las Vegas, using casinos. ‘Resort World Sentosa Casino’ and’Marina Bay Sands Casino’ are popular as tourist attractions in Singapore. To foster the casino industry, the casino was operated as an open-ended casino, but Koreans and permanent residents were required to receive 150 Singapore dollars per person (based on Sands Casino, about 130,000 won) as an admission fee. A safeguard has also been prepared for the casino industry to reinvest in gambling addiction treatment programs.

Jeju Island is also contemplating future strategies, but there is a long way to go. Through the recently published’Jeju Tourism Future Strategy Report’, the Jeju Tourism Organization selected five key agendas: △sustainability, △brand sophistication in Jeju, △institutional system (governance) for solving current issues in the tourism industry, △digitalization △globalization. To this end, the Jeju Tourism Organization analyzed that large-scale group tourism (mass tourism) should be avoided and high value-added tourists should be attracted in connection with the MICE industry.

“Singapore, Hong Kong, and Las Vegas, USA, are famous for MICE,” said Park Ki-cheol, general manager of Grand Chosun Jeju. “The MICE industry is not active just because there are hotels and convention centers.” It is necessary to have comprehensively well equipped tourism infrastructure (infrastructure), and at the level of Jeju Island, we must compete with other international cities to attract international events.”