On July 24, the Mapo government office announced its plan to promote the “Hongdae Special Tourist Zone,” saying that it would become a global tourism district by restoring the hub tourism ecosystem around Hongdae. The Mapo government office introduced it as the best way to restore the business zone in the region and boost the local economy, which has been in a slump since the start of this year due to COVID-19. Mapo is considered to have all the requirements to be designated as a “Special Tourist Zone”, including the number of foreign tourists and whether it can meet the demand for tourism in tourist information facilities, public convenience facilities. and accommodations. If designated as a Special Tourist Zone, public convenience facilities, lodging facilities, cultural/sports facilities, and commercial facilities in the special zone would be able to borrow or receive subsidies from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Seoul Metropolitan Government. In addition, the law related to tourism activities is expected to be eased to revitalize the service guidance system and public relations. If designation of the Hongdae Special Tourist Zone becomes a reality, Mapo plans to introduce policies to activate tourism, including expanding the foreign tourist numbers, improving the tourism infrastructure, and developing tourism courses linked to surrounding areas.

Mapo held a briefing session on July 27 to discuss the procedures and special cases for designating Hongdae as a Special Tourist Zone, and began the related survey and gathering opinions from residents. They also conducted feasibility studies in October and applied for the designation in November after consulting with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The area under consideration is 1.02㎢ in Seogyo-dong, Hongdae, including parts of Sangsu-dong and Hapjeong-dong. The scope will be determined according to the results of future feasibility studies.

In fact, this is not the first time this topic has been discussed. In 2016, Mapo also made efforts to designate Hongdae as a Special Tourist Zone. However, there were widespread concerns that if large hotels and duty-free shops were designated as Special Tourist Zones, the gentrification¹ could deepen and Hongdae could lose its own color. In the end, the Seoul Metropolitan Government also failed, as the plan was not welcomed by many interested parties. At that time, Mapo officials said, “We plan to apply for the designation of a special zone after gaining consensus among residents,” which they thought that now would be the moment.

¹Gentrification is a process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. (From Wikipedia) In this article, if Hongdae, which was filled with existing Hongdae artists, is selected as a Special Tourist Zone, rents will rise exponentially in anticipation of attracting foreign tourists, forcing existing artists to leave.

However, there are concerns that the problems of the past have not been solved. It is still valid that the designation of Special Tourist Zones is highly likely to result in gentrification. In particular, the cases of Itaewon and Myeong-dong have shown that rental fees have skyrocketed due to their designation as Special Tourist Zones, but those problems have still not been resolved, which led many duty-free shops to be mainly located in tourist zones with large capital. In particular, people working in Hongdae argue that the characteristics of commercial districts are completely different from Myeong-dong and Itaewon. In the case of Hongdae, it was not established to attract foreign tourists, but since it has grown into a cultural and artistic space for artists since the 1980s, there are concerns that its designation as a Special Tourist Zone might cause the Hongdae area to completely lose its original character.

To learn more, Tidings held a survey to hear the opinions of Hongik University students regarding the designation of Hongdae as a Special Tourist Zone. We received opinions from 37 students.

64.86% of the students have already heard about this issue through articles or friends, perhaps because it is related to the street in front of the school.

83.78% of the respondents are opposed to the designation of Hongdae as a Special Tourist Zone, citing several common factors. Most students feel that Hongdae is not a tourist destination, but a university district where students go to study. In this regard, some said that there are many difficulties in passing through Hongdae even now because it is crowded with people. But, if there are more tourists, it would be annoying for students who are commuting to school. Also, many students suggested that the characteristics of commercial districts may change. Instead of cheap and distinctive restaurants run by individuals, they worried that the food costs would rise with the entry of chain restaurants. They also expected that if large duty-free shops were built instead of shops that had individual character, Hongdae would lose its special character. On the contrary, students who were in favor of a Special Tourist Zone anticipated that improving the insufficient infrastructure through the new designation would greatly help the surrounding commercial districts and create a street with new characteristics.

Combining the above points, we can see that the concerns of many students and commercial officials are still valid. This shows that the persuasion of residents and commercial authorities that Mapo had claimed in the past has yet to be achieved. Therefore, more discussion and time are needed to designate Hongdae as a Special Tourist Zone.

Chung Yeongyu  ygchung00@naver.com

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