SEOUL, KOREA - All the large-scale tourism development projects currently under way in Jeju Island including Yerae Residential Town and Shinwha History Park are led by Chinese companies in one way or another.

 

According to the Jeju provincial government and Jeju Free International City Development Center on March 16, the tourism projects in excess of 1 trillion won under construction are five including the Healthcare Town, Iho Amusement Park and the Dream Tower, as well as the two projects.

 

Yerae Residential Town is a project led by the Berjaya Group, a Malaysia-based corporation that controls a wide array of businesses, including resorts, gambling, food and beverage, and property, which is building a 744,000-square-meter residential complex comprising town houses and amenities such as leisure and healthcare facilities in Seogwipo in the south of the island.

 

Meanwhile, Landing Investment Group, a Hong Kong-based real estate development company, agreed last month with Genting Singapore PLC to create a resort town inside Shinwha History Park in Seogwipo. Greenland Group, China's state-run real estate developer, is also busy preparing to build a 778,000-square-meter healthcare town that encompasses hospitals, medical R&D facilities, leisure town, and hotels at the cost of 1 trillion won, again in Seogwipo. Separately, Greenland Group is building a 56-story hotel "Dream Tower" in the City of Jeju in partnership with Korea's Dongwha Investment & Development.

 

Benma Group of China is currently building inside Iho Amusement Park a full-size theme park that includes an aquarium, a water park, shopping mall, and a hotel at the total cost of 1.3 trillion won. All the Chinese developers except Greenland Group's healthcare town will set up large casinos in their tourism complexes to that they can earn money from Chinese tourists visiting the island. For this reason, some in the island voiced concern that Jeju may become another Macau.