Part 2 - LA84 Foundation

18. Accommodation
18.1
Basic Measures
In accordance with IOC rules, the host
city of the Olympic Games is required
to provide comfortable accommodation
to official participants at an acceptable
price.
Soon after Seoul was given the right to
host the Olympics, the SLOOC set out
to project accommodation demand
and held sessions with the Seoul city
government, Transportation Ministry
and other related government agencies
to discuss accommodation measures.
The first order of business was to
project how many people would come
to Seoul for the Olympics and what
standards of accommodation should
be provided to the participants.
The range of the accommodation
measures the SLOOC had to be concerned
with included: 1) The establishment
of IOC secretariat office and
headquarters hotel, and accommodation
for IOC members, 2) accommodation
conditions in the Olympic Village
for athletes and officials, and the
accommodation conditions at the
Press Village for media personnel, 3)
acquisition of accommodation facilities
for Olympic Family, and 4) the accommodation
needs for tourists attending
the Games. After a series of surveys
and investigations made with the
Transportation Ministry between 1983
and 1984, the SLOOC concluded that
the existing tourist hotels, inns and
dormitories were not sufficient to
accommodate the projected 270,000
members of Olympic Family and
tourists who would visit Seoul for the
Games. With the approval of the
government in 1984, the SLOOC finalized
a plan to construct Olympic and
Press Villages and the Olympic Family
Town.
With consideration for the accommodation
demand situation following the
Games, the SLOOC decided to secure
rooms in tourist hotels and to meet the
additional demand by improving or
utilizing high - class inns. The SLOOC
also worked out a plan for a
"home – stay" program using private
homes to promote international
friendship.
The SLOOC decided to implement a
strict room reservation system for the
tourist hotels involved in the Games
accommodation in order to prevent
speculative demand during the peak
periods and also to protect the domestic
tourist industry. A payment system
for reservation deposits was thus
established.
The accommodation measures were
carried out with the cooperation of the
Transportation Ministry. The ministry
established an Accommodation Committee
in December 1983 and
organized an Accommodation Board
and Accommodation Management Unit
to assist the SLOOC in its efforts to
secure accommodation facilities.
In September 1985, the government
replaced the guidelines for the designation
and operation of hotels for
Olympic Games tourists with a joint
public notice by the Transportation and
Health and Social Affairs Ministries.
Dated May 12, 1986, the government
promulgated a law covering support
for tourism and accommodation businesses.
In July 1986, an enforcement
decree (Presidential Decree No.
11950) was promulgated, and in
August the same year, an enforcement
regulation (Transportation Ministry
Decree No. 841) was promulgated.
Under its Article 3, the law set out tax
incentives in favor of official hotels.
In April 1985, the SLOOC created the
Accommodation Division in its Protocol
Department. However, the Accommodation
Division was brought under the
wing of the International Cooperation
Department in December 1985 when
the Protocol Department was incorporated
into the International Cooperation
Department.
With the Games operation system
being set in motion in July 1988, the
organization was reshaped, into the
International Cooperation Headquarters,
and all accommodation affairs for
official participants except for athletes,
officials and media personnel were
handled by the Director of Accommodation
Operation under the wing of the
Headquarters Hotel Operation Unit.
Under the control of the Director of
Accommodation Operation were
Accommodation Support Manager and
the First, Second and Third Accommodation
Operation Managers. Under the
control of the managers, 11 officers
handled working affairs; the officers
included the Information Desk Officer,
Amenities Officer, Reservation
Deposits Officer, IOC Officer, Airport
Accommodation Officer, IBC Accommodation
Officer, MPC Accommodation
Officer, NOCs Officer, VIP Officer, IFs
Officer, and NSF Officer. A command
post for accommodation was operated
in the Headquarters Hotel.
The total number of accommodation
operation personnel of the Headquarters
Hotel Operation Unit came to 277,
including 10 SLOOC staff members, 12
support personnel, 11 temporary
employees and 244 volunteers.
Separate from the Headquarters Hotel
Operation Unit, the International
Cooperation Headquarters supervised
the Olympic Family Town Operation
Unit. Under the control of the director
general of Family Town Operation Unit,
the Family Accommodation Manager
was in charge of accommodation
affairs.
18.2
Supporting Organizations
18.2.1
Tourism and Accommodation
Committee
————————————–—
The Accommodation Committee,
chaired by the director general of Planning
and Management Office of the
Transportation Ministry, was organized
comprising 16 persons from 14 organizations.
The committee held its first
session on January 21, 1985. The committee
members included: deliberation
officer at the Office of Administration
Coordination for the Prime Minister;
officer of the Olympic Support Planning
Team of the Agency for National Security
Planning; director general of the
Tourism Bureau of the Transportation
Ministry; director general of the
Economic Cooperation Bureau of the
Finance Ministry; director general of
the International Sports Bureau of the
Ministry of Sports; director general of
the Public Health Bureau, the Ministry
of Health and Social Affairs; Olympic
Planning Officer, Seoul city government;
directors of Planning Offices,
Inchon city and Kyonggi-do (provincial
governments); directors of Protocol
and Spectator Service Departments,
the SLOOC; director general of Tourism
Promotion, Korea National Tourism
Corp.; vice president of the Korea
Tourist Association; president of the
Central Federation of Hotels and Inns,
and; the president of the Restaurants
Central Federation.
In its first session, the committee dealt
with the accommodation basic plan
worked out by the Transportation
Ministry, projected capacity of accommodation,
operation measures, criteria
for charges, and repair work on acommodation
facilities.
In the second session on March 21,
1985, the committee acted on the
accommodation basic measure
worked out by the Seoul city
government.
With the promulgation of the "Tourism
and Accommodation Support Law for
Olympics" on May 12, 1986, the
Accommodation Committee was
changed into the Tourism and Accommodation
Committee.
In the 9th session on February 29,
1987, the projected number of persons
requiring accommodation during the
Games period of September was
adjusted from 270,000 to 240,000. The
projection included 40,000 persons
related to the Games, 20,000 tourists
expected to come to Seoul specifically
for the Olympics, and the 180,000
tourists normally expected around that
time of year.
In its 10th session on April 8,1987, the
committee put final touches to the
Olympic accommodation basic plan,
designating the headquarters hotel
and official hotels for the Games.
1. IOC President Samaranch inspecting
Olympic Family Town facilities.
1