Safety conditions of Benikea Hotels run by the state-run Korea Tourism Organization have turned out to be substandard, according to a local lawmaker.
Safety of Benikea's 58 chains were assessed as “poor” for more than 38 times during the last three years, according to Ahn Hong-joon, a lawmaker of Tourism Committee, who cited data from the Ministry of Public Safety and Security.
During the same period, around half of the hotel chains were rated as poor condition at least once in the area of fire safety. There were four hotels, which were rated as poor for twice, and three were classified as substandard throughout the three years.
Food safety management of the hotel chains also turned out to be poor. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the government found out 15 cases of violating the food safety law among restaurants located in the hotels during the last three years.
Despite the dismal safety conditions, the Korea Tourism Organizations has never inspected food safety and facilities of the hotels.
Industry observers say that if this the government does nothing about it, this may lead to accidents or casualties and to damage the national brand image amid the government's growing efforts to attract more tourists.
