The volcanic island Jeju, listed as the World Natural Heritage by the UNESCO, has witnessed an age of mega tourism in its history with 10 million local and global visitors in 2013. Despite its external growth and an increasing number of tourists, howe...
The volcanic island Jeju, listed as the World Natural Heritage by the UNESCO, has witnessed an age of mega tourism in its history with 10 million local and global visitors in 2013. Despite its external growth and an increasing number of tourists, however, tourism in Jeju Island finds itself drawn into environmentally, socio-culturally and economically negative discourses to the extent that tourist destinations become further disconnected from the local
community. Simply put, tourism in Jeju Island is in an urgent condition that requires sustainable qualitative growth strategies. In this context, the present study pays attention to geotourism, emerging globally as a new type of sustainable tourism.
The present study aims to seek for measures to activate geotourism for the benefit of sustainable tourism in Jeju and thus to lay the foundation for coexistence between tourist destinations and local community. Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak located on the eastern seashore of Jeju Island has been chosen as the site for this case study. Seongsan Ilchulbong is the UNESCO-designated World Natural Heritage site and a globally renowned geopark. As for study
methods, local and global literature review including relevant reports, SWOT analysis and a questionnaire survey were used to discuss the topic.
In the early 1990s, geotourism was discussed in a narrow sense focusing on geomorphology and geological resources. At the turn of the century, however, a
broad concept focusing on geographical characteristics of a place has officially come the fore, extending the scope of a place to not only geomorphology and geological resources but also to daily life of local residents. Jeju’s history, culture, and nature are humanized with Jeju’s local history, culture and life. In this vein, this study reasons that geotourism in Jeju Island should be extensively applied as a broad concept.
Here, the sustainability of tourism in Jeju Island is critically diagnosed from environmental, socio-cultural and economic perspectives. In terms of environment, large-scale development including golf courses for tourists is
considered to threaten the eco-system of Gotjawal, which serves as the lung for vegetation in Jeju and the ground-water recharge furrow. In view of socio-culture, gambling addiction issues of those who use Jeju Racecourse and
the resultant severity have been diagnosed. In light of economy, the controversial privatization and land sales surrounding Seopjikoji in the Seongsanpo Marine Tourism Complex are discussed. These are the cases of
development eventually causing negative discourses that spread throughout the entire community.
To activate geotourism around Seongsan Ilchulbong, this study has conducted SWOT analysis and a questionnaire survey. From the analysis and survey, measures for activating 5 content areas were derived, i.e. year-round Seongsan Ilchul Festival ; development of educational programs for increasing the awareness of geomorphology and geological resources; continual experience of
Jeju Haenyeo’s life ; visiting modern and contemporary historic and cultural heritages ; and betterment of quality of life for local residents. As for the measures for activating geotourism in Jeju Island, whether to develop core
contents driving natural and humanistic resources is regarded as the key to secure sustainability. As for Seongsan Ilchulbong, ‘year-round Seongsan Ilchul
Festival’ was found to be an appropriate core content representing local place-ness, symbolicity and identity.
Furthermore, specific measures for the year-round Seongsan Ilchul Festival were proposed. That is, the Seonsan Ilchul Festival should be held 12 times a
year on the first day of each month by the residents of the heritage village Seongsanli with the support of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and World Natural Heritage Management Group, which would contribute to establishingSeongsan Ilchulbong as a sustainable heritage such that local residents could retrieve the pride in their World Heritage Village. For instance, conflicting
parties in society may participate in the Seongsan Ilchul Festival with a monthly theme on the first day of each month. Then, relevant strategies were developed
to turn the Seongsan Inchul Festival into a festival of hope, communication, impression and fun.
Among the measures to activate the geotourism around Seongsan Ilchulbong, the ‘betterment of quality of life for local people’ was perceived as the foremost
issue in real life. Seongsan Ilchulbong is a tourist destination representing Jeju, attracting an increasing number of tourists, while it is not the case with the
Heritage Village. Thus, the disparity between the village and the popular destination Seongsan Ilchulbong is increasing. This issue was addressed here
from the perspective of dealing with the residents’ long-cherished projects. First, the village’s overarching issue is the invasion of privacy due to the over-saturated parking lot for Seongsan Ilchulbong, which should be moved and
expanded. Also, the KBS’ transmitting station occupying the land of the small village and spoiling its landscape need be moved. The issue of opening the
current folk market daily instead of every five days is urgent for income generation for residents. These projects are significant for the coexistence of the World Natural Heritage Seongsan Ilchulbong with the Heritage Village, calling
for an determined action by the provincial authorities.
Here, three integral issues were derived in relation to realizing the sustainable Jeju tourism from the case study on Seongsan Ilchulbong. First, core geotourism
contents held by local residents should be developed, Second, the village center should be consistently included in the geotourism course for visitors. Third, every stakeholder should participate in relevant monitoring and evaluation, which is expected to activate geotourism in Jeju Island as the foundation for coexistence between tourist attractions and local communities.
This study is significant in three ways. First, it suggests a new potential wayto realize sustainable tourism in Jeju by extending the scope of research on geotourism, emerging lately and globally as a sustainable type of tourism to
humanistic resources associated with the geomorphological landscape and geological resources on the volcanic island Jeju endorsed by the UNESCO.
Secondly, the present study provides an underdrawing of a sustainable place of coexistence via development of connected contents for activating geotourism as
an effort to sort out the worsening disconnection between Seongsan Ilchulbong representing tourism in Jeju Island and the Heritage Village Seongsanli. Third, in that domestic research on geotourism is subjected to distinct logical
arguments and perspectives in geography, geology, geomorphology and tourism, this study elicits meaningful implications for interdisciplinary ties.
This study is limited to suggesting general directions without empirical efforts to shed light on the measures for activating sustainable geotourism in Jeju.
Also, regarding the development in connection with contents for activating geotourism around the Seongsan Ilchulbong area, this study failed to discuss
‘Developing programs for experiencing the inland waters and marine tourism’ and ‘Developing imaginative space with classical scholars, calligraphers and poets’ due to priorities. Further studies should overcome those limitations and delve into geotourism from the disciplinary perspectives in order to drive sustainable local development and geotourism in Jeju Island in favor of
coexistence of residents with tourist attractions.