JEJU, KOREA - Jeju, the island located at the center of Korea, China, and Japan, will turn itself into the 'Creative Business Leisure City' with the launch of ‘Jeju Airest City-Berjaya Jeju Resort (Jeju Airest City),’ so travelers can balance work and leisure at the same time.
The beautiful nature of the island, which is off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, has been internationally recognized - designated as the Triple Crown Winner accredited by UNESCO and selected as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. Jeju Free International City Development Center (JDC) has worked hard to make Jeju a free international city, like Hong Kong and Singapore. And its efforts have paid off. JDC, which signed an investment deal with Malaysia-based Berjaya Group in 2008, held a ground-breaking ceremony for Jeju Airest City on March 7.
Jeju Airest City, scheduled to complete construction in 2017, was uniquely designed for the island using Jeju’s natural, cultural heritage as a motif. As a result, it won the Gold Award, the highest honor, in the 'Best Futura Mega Project' category at MIPIM Asia Awards 2012. When construction is completed in 2017, Jeju will be a role model for new resort cities featuring creative production activities.
During the ceremony, JDC Chairman Byon Jong-il said in his congratulatory speech that he’s excited to see tangible results just 5 years after Berjaya Jeju Resort was established jointly with Berjaya Group in 2008, while expressing his gratitude to Jeju citizens and related agencies.
Starting from the left, Dato' Ng Sooi Lin, CEO of Berjaya Land; Tan Sri Dato' Seri Vincent Tan, Chairman of Berjaya Group; Han Man-Hee, Vice Minister for Land, Water, and Construction; Woo Keun-min, Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province; and JDC Chairman Byon Jong-il are participating in a ground-breaking ceremony for the Jeju Airest City
“I hope that a more sophisticated resort-type residential complex will result from Korea’s largest investment in the tourism industry with Berjaya Group, Malaysia’s sixth-largest conglomerate, which has a strong reputation in the resort industry,” Byon said. “JDC will spare no efforts to make Jeju Airest City a world-class resort town.”
“Jeju is located within a two-hour flight of major large cities in Northeast Asia. The island also has unmatched natural beauty with its designation as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage, so potential demand for tourism seems huge,” said Berjaya Group Chairman Tan Sri Dato' Seri Vincent Tan. “We’re pleased to invest in an area that is so well-poised to grow into a free international city.”
Meanwhile, the Jeju Airest City project is part of the Resort-Type Residential Complex project, one of JDC’s six core projects to turn Jeju into a free international city. Jeju Airest City is a resort complex to be built on a site of approximately 744 m² in Yerye-dong, Seogwipo City. Accommodations, including luxury hotel and condominium, multi-purpose shopping mall, medical center and casino are expected to locate there. Berjaya Group, a world-leading player in the hotel and resort market, agreed to invest KRW124.6 billion in the Airest project, the largest foreign direct investment in the history of Korea’s tourism industry.