Beaches Get Star-Based Rating System

Lee, a 29-year-old office worker who spent last year’s summer vacation at a famous beach on the south coast, was so annoyed with the overpriced but inconvenient facilities and the unfriendliness of the shopkeepers that for this year’s holidays, he plans to go abroad.

The government is now taking action to address such grievances.

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MOMAF) announced on May 23 that it will rate the 346 beaches in the country on criteria such as exorbitant rates and friendliness to customers starting from 2009.

Just like hotels, beaches will be graded on a five star scale.

For now, the Ministry will evaluate beaches on four criteria- management, water quality, scenery and safety management- and publicize ten best beaches this year.

The Ministry has prepared a Beach Management Law to this effect and will be presenting it before this year’s regular session of the National Assembly.

Similar types of beach certification systems are already in place in the United States and Europe.

One Season’s Business is Not All-

The government has taken up the beach rating system because complaints from summer holiday goers have come up time after time.

“When an objective outside evaluating agency rates all the beaches in the country, vacationers can take the scores into account when choosing their holiday destinations,” said Secretary Kwon Jun-young from the MOMAF Coastal Planning and Management Division. “As beaches which offend tourists will receive low ratings, the local residents will act voluntarily to make improvements.”

The rating system is also expected to lower the excessive number of visitors flocking to a few largest beaches every summer, as more tourists will opt for less known but equally attractive alternatives that receive high ratings.

Last year saw a total of 111,580,000 tourists visit beaches around the country, and 86.7 percent of this figure had been concentrated in the three areas of Busan (35 million), Chungcheongnam-do (33 million), and Gangwon-do (28.4 million).

Despite selecting four good-quality beaches and one best-quality beach per field every year since 2004, and providing them with subsidies for upgrading facilities and the environment, the efforts by MOMAF have been criticized as not being effective.

Entry Fees for Beaches-

Last summer, Gangwon beaches produced waste of no less than 4,607 tons, costing a total of 17.3 billion won to pick it up and transport it.

Therefore, the MOMAF has decided to include a clause in the Beach Management Law to allow for admission fees to beaches.

At the moment, most beaches do not charge official fees for entry. However, the decision to charge entry fees or not will lie in the hands of local governments to make.

The water quality of beaches will also be enhanced up to developed country levels, adding items such as fecal coliform, micrococcus, grease, and floating waste matter to the existing list of water substances to be controlled, such as coli bacillus, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and floating material.

Beachgoers last year spent an average of 69,000 won a day per person.

Keuk-In Bae bae2150@donga.com