South Korea entered China’s Golden Week on September 30, 2026, with two opposing forces, with a record 15.05 million international visitors accumulated through August and a strike involving around 400 workers at Jeju Dream Tower Casino, launched at 07:00 on September 28 and scheduled to run until October 3. The walkout is hitting the foreigner-only casino just as it expects stronger traffic from China during the October 1–7 holiday period.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), headed by Chae Hwi-young, reported that South Korea received exactly 15,048,435 international visitors between January and August, up 21.6% year on year and the highest level for that period in 30 years. August alone brought 2.25 million arrivals, up 23.3%, while foreign visitor card spending reached KRW14.018 trillion, a 48.5% increase and a record high.
Park Sung-hyeuck
Greater China generated 7,005,163 arrivals, up 28.9%: mainland China contributed 4,816,134, Taiwan 1,656,255, Hong Kong 495,680 and Macau 37,094. Japan added 2,698,857, up 17.5%. South Korea eased multiple-entry visa requirements from March 30 for citizens of 11 Southeast Asian countries and launched a visa-free pilot in May for Indonesian tour groups. The Korea Tourism Organization, chaired by Park Sung-hyeuck, reinforced K-Culture campaigns; its Singapore travel fair attracted 120,000 attendees.
In Jeju, the union is demanding that dealer shifts be reduced from 80 to 60 minutes, that continuous extensions of up to 120 minutes be avoided, starting salaries be raised, performance bonuses be introduced and wage gaps between departments be reduced. Lotte Tour Development argues that the 80-minutes-on/20-minutes-off system is standard in Macau and Singapore and says wages rose 5% annually between 2022 and 2026, with additional 5%-10% increases for promotions.
Dream Tower expanded from 149 tables in 2024 to 169 in Q1 2026. During that quarter, casino revenue reached KRW118.6 billion, up 40.3%, with 150,553 visitors. The property remains open while the company seeks to maintain operating capacity throughout Golden Week.
