Being the first slow city of Asia, along with the completion of the bridge that connects the island to the peninsula ? which opened last year ? brought many changes to Jeungdo. As the number of visitors increased dramatically, the island faced more demand for accommodations and tour packages. This had both positive and negative impacts on the island, placing Jeungdo somewhere in between further development and the expected "slowness."

Just one year before Jeungdo became a slow city, a corporate resort named El Dorado opened. A growing number of people who live outside of Jeungdo have since started buying properties on the island, and building rental homes for tourists.

To benefit and engage local residents in the newly-thriving tourism of the island, the regional government offered financial support for 30 local households last year, to renovate their private homes into lodging houses. Each household was given 10 million won. Another 30 households received the same support this year.

[Via] Asia One

[Photo Credit] Korea Herald