Consumers’Rights and Interests expected to be Promoted

with the Improvement of Information Provision

regarding Overseas Travel-related Products

-Travel agencies participating in the‘Standardization Project for the Provision of Information’show an average compliance rate of 96.2%. -

     The number of exiting passengers is expected to reach more than 2,600 this year alone. On this account, the Korea Consumer Agency (KCA), the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), and the Korea Association of Travel Agents (KATA) have been performing a joint project for 「Standardization of Information Provision Regarding Overseas Travel-Related Products」(hereinafter referred to as ‘Standardization of Information Provision’) to promote the rights and interests of overseas travel consumers since July, 2014. As its first stage business (package tour products) was complete in last May, an investigation was conducted on how travel agencies had been providing information regarding overseas travel-related products, and the results of that investigation suggest that the project has entered its stable phase with the active cooperation of the project participating travel agencies.

 □ The participating travel agencies’average compliance rate was 96.2%, and in particular, Redcaptour recorded 99.9% compliance.

     The investigation on the compliance with the standards of information provision regarding overseas travel-related products for 15 travel destinations revealed that the average compliance rate of 14 participating travel agencies was 96.2%, meeting the compliance rate target of 90% recommended by the three organizations running the project. In particular, Redcaptour’s compliance rate was 99.9%, the highest rate among all 14 participating travel agencies.

The average compliance rate ofnon-participating travel agencies (4) was 70.3%, which was in a stark contrast with that of the participating travel agencies. While the compliance rates of all 14 participating travel agencies

were more than 90%, 3 out of 4 non-participating travel agencies demonstrated compliance less than 90%.

□ Products for travelling to Japan recorded the highest compliance rate (97.3%).

     The investigation on the participating travel agencies’ travel-related products by travel destination found that the products for travelling to Japan recorded 97.3% compliance with the standards of information provision, and the products for traveling to American states showed 93.7% compliance, which is relatively low compared to that of Japan travel products, suggesting that the information provision regarding the products for American states need to be improved.

 □ The project needs to be expanded to cover include other types of travel-related products (ex: airtel products).

     Although the standardization for the provision of information was successfully implemented in the first stage (package tour products), continuous efforts to prevent consumers’damage are important since overseas travel-related products involve a variety of services such as flight, accommodation, food and shopping. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the level of information provision through investigations on how local services of overseas travel-related products are being provided in travel destinations, and also to expand (second stage) the project for standardization of information provision to cover different types of travel-related products (ex: airtel products).

     The KCA, the KTO and the KATA said that on the premise that the protection of the rights and interests of consumers purchasing or using overseas travel-related products is the underlying objective of the project for standardization of information provision, they would further promote their joint project to continuously improve the provision of information for overseas travel-related products.