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rabidcake
Joined: 10 Aug 2009
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 Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 11:38 pm Post subject: Not enough hotel rooms for the World Expo |
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Came across an interesting article in the Korea Times.
Here are some of the highlights of the article:
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| At many hospitality industry experts warn that the expo, which runs from May 12 to Aug.12, may not be able to attract as many guests as it hopes to, citing a severe shortage of hotel rooms, particularly for foreign tourists, and inadequate transportation infrastructure in and around Yeosu. |
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| According to Kang, there are only about 1,000 hotel rooms in Yeosu and the nearby area. |
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| But Yeosu city and expo organizers have no tools to curb rises in room charges. They have only been asking hotels to voluntarily refrain from raising them. |
Seems like the choice of Yeosu for the World Expo is not that great of a decision. They hope to have at least 10 million visitors, yet they can only have up to 1,000 rooms for people to stay at.
Even if we assume that for those 120 days that the expo is open and all 1,000 rooms are packed with families of 4, then at best that would just be 480,000 people in total. That's short 9.5 million of Korea's original goal...
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2012/05/123_110519.html |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 12:34 am Post subject: |
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I call BS on this.
They said the exact same thing about hotels before the 2002 World Cup. All the hotels were supposedly booked. Well I guess it was kind of true, but most yeoshiwans and love motels were pretty much empty for the duration of the World Cup. So me and my friends had great accommodations for really cheap prices. There was one place where the lady only charged 15000-won total for 3 guys in a room (that's 5000-won each). Great deals. |
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rabidcake
Joined: 10 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 12:47 am Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
I call BS on this.
They said the exact same thing about hotels before the 2002 World Cup. All the hotels were supposedly booked. Well I guess it was kind of true, but most yeoshiwans and love motels were pretty much empty for the duration of the World Cup. So me and my friends had great accommodations for really cheap prices. There was one place where the lady only charged 15000-won total for 3 guys in a room (that's 5000-won each). Great deals. |
Yeah, well Korea is unique in having many types of housing options.
One of the big ones for me is the bathhouses, I'm sure there are plenty to stay at although they might be quite packed during the expo. |
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crescent
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: yes.
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 1:04 am Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
I call BS on this.
They said the exact same thing about hotels before the 2002 World Cup. All the hotels were supposedly booked. Well I guess it was kind of true, but most yeoshiwans and love motels were pretty much empty for the duration of the World Cup. So me and my friends had great accommodations for really cheap prices. There was one place where the lady only charged 15000-won total for 3 guys in a room (that's 5000-won each). Great deals. |
There was a hotel shortage during the world cup. Love motels are not hotels. There was also a severe shortage during last summer's IAAF Games in Daegu.
Tourists were staying with the families of some volunteers and some o the athletes families had to stay in cheapo love motels on the other side of the city. |
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orosee
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Location: Hannam-dong, Seoul
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 4:08 pm Post subject: Re: Not enough hotel rooms for the World Expo |
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| rabidcake wrote: |
Even if we assume that for those 120 days that the expo is open and all 1,000 rooms are packed with families of 4, then at best that would just be 480,000 people in total. That's short 9.5 million of Korea's original goal...
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Half a million coming in from farther away than 200 km.
The rest doing day trips from their homes. Maybe there are 9.5 million people living within a 200 km radius around the Expo.
No international visitors, but numerical goal fulfilled. |
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oppa637
Joined: 05 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry for my ignorance. I tried googling.
Is this something that happens every year or is it something special for this year?
I ask to know if I should go this year or if I can just go next year.
Is it something special? Worth going to? |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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| oppa637 wrote: |
Sorry for my ignorance. I tried googling.
Is this something that happens every year or is it something special for this year?
I ask to know if I should go this year or if I can just go next year.
Is it something special? Worth going to? |
http://www.worldexpo2012.com/
Looks pretty cool, but if you're going on a weekend it might be hell. |
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motiontodismiss
Joined: 18 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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| What the hell were they thinking having the expo in Yeosu, home of....a GS Caltex refinery? They have a world expo in the middle of nowhere and there aren't enough hotel rooms....surprise surprise. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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| motiontodismiss wrote: |
| What the hell were they thinking having the expo in Yeosu, home of....a GS Caltex refinery? They have a world expo in the middle of nowhere and there aren't enough hotel rooms....surprise surprise. |
This occurred to me as well. Have they announced any plans for the site post-Expo? |
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rabidcake
Joined: 10 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 1:46 am Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| motiontodismiss wrote: |
| What the hell were they thinking having the expo in Yeosu, home of....a GS Caltex refinery? They have a world expo in the middle of nowhere and there aren't enough hotel rooms....surprise surprise. |
This occurred to me as well. Have they announced any plans for the site post-Expo? |
I couldn't find much information regarding post-Expo plans, but at the same time I didn't look very hard. |
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Savant
Joined: 25 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 6:01 am Post subject: |
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| motiontodismiss wrote: |
| What the hell were they thinking having the expo in Yeosu, home of....a GS Caltex refinery? They have a world expo in the middle of nowhere and there aren't enough hotel rooms....surprise surprise. |
I think the organizers of the Yeosu Expo share the same Field Of Dreams philosophy as the organizers of the Korean F1 race: "If we build it, they will come."
The first Korean F1 race was a hack job and this Expo looks like it is struggling to look presentable. |
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Hugo85
Joined: 27 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 2:59 pm Post subject: |
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| The fact is that international events should be held in Seoul. Why would a village with 2-3 restaurants be able to accommodate 9 million visitors? |
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FDNY
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 4:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Hugo85 wrote: |
| The fact is that international events should be held in Seoul. Why would a village with 2-3 restaurants be able to accommodate 9 million visitors? |
I agree. Leaving Seoul is like going through a timewarp back to the nineteenth century. Also, travelling in Korea is hell. If this event was near Seoul I might go. (But then again, as was said before, it would be horribly crowded.) Anyway, I don't think they have to worry. I don't think any "Expo" in "Yeosu" is going to be a big global event. I figure attendance will be limited to school kids and a few local winos. That's it. |
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Squire
Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Hugo85 wrote: |
| The fact is that international events should be held in Seoul. Why would a village with 2-3 restaurants be able to accommodate 9 million visitors? |
'a village with 2-3 restaurants' is a slight exaggeration 
| FDNY wrote: |
I agree. Leaving Seoul is like going through a timewarp back to the nineteenth century. Also, travelling in Korea is hell. If this event was near Seoul I might go. (But then again, as was said before, it would be horribly crowded.) Anyway, I don't think they have to worry. I don't think any "Expo" in "Yeosu" is going to be a big global event. I figure attendance will be limited to school kids and a few local winos. That's it. |
Cohiba? 
Why do you think travelling in Korea is hell? I think it's one of the best aspects of living here. It would be difficult to improve the inter city bus travel, and the trains are good too
I agree that it won't be much of an international event though. I see no justification for foreigners to come, sadly. I expect it'll mostly be Koreans from Yeosu, followed by other Koreans from Jeolla and then some more Koreans from other parts of the country. Korea showcasing itself to Koreans. I've been welcomed to Yeosu once or twice recently and I don't have the heart to tell them I'm not actually here for the Expo  |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Why do you think travelling in Korea is hell? I think it's one of the best aspects of living here. It would be difficult to improve the inter city bus travel, and the trains are good too |
Public transportation is awesome, driving sucks. It's kind of a wash when compared to the States, imo. |
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