Korea brings shared stays under a stricter tourism lodging regime

South Korea is bringing shared accommodation and hanok experience businesses into a more formal tourism-lodging market, pairing price-transparency rules with a proposed insurance requirement for accidents. The changes target city homestays for foreign tourists and hanok experience businesses.

Under an amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Tourism Promotion Act effective Aug. 4, both businesses must display price lists at their premises and on online interfaces used for the business, then honor those posted rates. Businesses registered before the rule took effect have one month to meet the new registration standard.

Failing to post a rate or charging above it now brings a five-day business suspension on a first violation for either category. Hanok experience businesses previously faced only a correction order for a first offence; city homestays for foreign tourists had no price-display or compliance duty.

The Ministry of Interior and Safety says city homestay facilities are generally in densely populated urban areas, while hanok experience facilities can suffer major damage in a fire because of their wooden construction.

Separately, the ministry is pursuing an amendment to add both categories to mandatory disaster-liability insurance, which compensates third parties for losses caused by fires, explosions or collapses. The expansion would cover about 9,800 city homestay businesses for foreign tourists and about 2,300 hanok experience businesses.

The head of the ministry's Disaster and Safety Management Headquarters called the change "a measure to eliminate safety blind spots" in shared accommodation and hanok experience facilities. The ministry has completed consultations with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and will move ahead with legislative procedures, while local governments will inform operators so they do not miss the time to enroll and face fines.