The Annex 2 of the Enforcement Regulation of the Tourism Promotion Act stipulates the following criteria for designating a tourist pension business:
- The building must be in harmony with nature and the surrounding environment and be four stories or less.
- The number of guest rooms must be 30 or fewer.
- It must have the necessary facilities for cooking and lodging.
- It must have at least one type of facility that allows for the host’s hospitality, such as a barbecue area or campfire area (however, if the tourist pension consists of several buildings, these facilities can be installed jointly).
- Foreign language signs must be provided for accommodation and facilities.
Meanwhile, in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, the ‘Special Act on Establishment of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and Development of Free International City’ separately defines ‘retreat pension business’ as a business that ‘provides or uses facilities suitable for lodging, cooking, and natural experience tourism to members, co-owners, or other tourists.’
The registration criteria for retreat pension business under the ‘Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Tourism Promotion Ordinance’ are generally similar to those for tourist pension business and include the following:
- The building of the retreat pension facility must be three stories or less.
- The number of guest rooms must be 10 or fewer.
- The guest rooms must have a living room, entrance (access), bathroom, toilet, and cooking facilities suitable for lodging and cooking (however, each room must have one entrance).
- The guest room area must be between 25 square meters and 100 square meters.
- Regardless of the land category, secure land of at least 330 square meters for use as an experience farm (a space where visitors can experience farming by cultivating crops or growing fruit trees) or land of at least 10,000 square meters for use as a ranch to enable natural experiences.
- The retreat pension must have at least two types of facilities within the site such as a children’s playground, a simple golf practice range, a gateball field, a pool, a barbecue area, or other experience facilities with themes related to Jeju’s unique traditional culture, and an experience farm must be established adjacent to the facility site or its boundary.
- Foreign language signs must be provided for accommodation and facilities.
The most significant difference between retreat pension business and tourist pension business is that the retreat pension business is used for business registration in Jeju and allowed for unit sales as well as membership recruitment, according to Article 251, Paragraph 3 of the ‘Special Act on Establishment of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and Development of Free International City.’
