Tourists fill a street in Myeong-dong, a tourist destination in central Seoul, Aug. 13. Korea Times photo by Park Kyeong-dam

Many low-cost tour packages for foreign visitors to Seoul are filled with shopping programs rather than actual tourism, the Seoul Metropolitan Government revealed, Friday.

This was found through the city government's covert inspection of package tours, in which foreign nationals participated as inspectors for the government.

It was part of the city's initiative to combat so-called "dumping tours," which refers to travel packages offered at unreasonably low prices, in which tourists are often taken to specific stores and pressured to purchase overpriced products, including cosmetics, nutritional supplements and duty free items.

The inspectors participated in seven group package tours, three departing from China and four from Vietnam, the two countries that account for a significant portion of tourists visiting Korea. They took part in the entire trips, organized and sold by the local tour agencies of the countries, from departure to return. They monitored all aspects of the tours, including guides, accommodations, food, optional excursions and shopping stops, aiming to assess the quality of trips often marketed at low prices.

The inspection revealed that over a four-night, five-day itinerary, the tourists had to make four to eight visits to shopping centers primarily selling health supplements, duty free items and cosmetics.

Inspectors noted that the reliability of products in these shops was questionable, with many items lacking clear labels for country of origin or manufacturing date.

Tour guides' attitudes toward tourists changed based on how much the tourists purchased.

In some cases, tourists were pressured to purchase items from the start of the tour to help guides meet sales quotas, because many guides are linked to such stores and receive commissions in exchange for bringing tourists to the venues.

In one extreme instance, a guide prevented tourists from leaving a shopping center for 40 minutes until one of them made a purchase. Only after a sale was made did the guide allow the group to exit the store.

As the itineraries were focused on shopping, the inspectors said they did not have much time to enjoy Korean culture or learn about the country's history.

The city government plans to share the results of its inspection with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as relevant embassies, to prevent the continued sale of dumping tours. It also intends to pursue legal action, including seeking police investigation for potential illegalities, if necessary.

In addition, the city will inform the embassies of China and Vietnam about the sales practices uncovered during the inspections and urge them to impose sanctions on local tour agencies selling such programs in accordance with their respective national laws.

Earlier in March, the city government had already taken action by reviewing 100 low-cost package tours bound for Seoul out of 3,097 sold on four major Chinese online platforms. It requested the Chinese government and embassy to ban 85 products suspected of being part of dumping tours.

The city government emphasized that the quality inspections are not a one-off initiative. It plans to regularly expand the scope of such inspections and increase the number of inspectors to ensure consistent oversight of tourism practices.

"We will take strong action against illegal practices that disrupt the tourism industry, and work to enhance the quality of tourism to make Seoul a more attractive city that visitors will want to return to," said Kim Young-hwan, the director general of the Tourism and Sports Bureau at the city government.