South Korea’s southern resort island of Jejudo is known for three things in abundance: wind, stone and women. Now the temperate volcanic island with unique local culture and cuisine has to add one more to the list: Chinese business.

The island with a population of 600,000 is drawing money from Chinese companies and home buyers looking for places to invest in, encouraged by incentives offered by the South Korean government.

Unlike for other parts of Korea, Chinese nationals can stay on Jejudo without visas for up to 30 days. The special autonomous province also grants permanent residency to real estate investors who purchase property worth $50,000 or more.

The investment visa program, aimed at making Jejudo a “free international city” modeled after Hong Kong and Singapore which have open policies for visitors and investors, appears to be effective in propping up the island’s property market.

According to data by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Chinese investors owned 2.4 square kilometers of the island’s land last year, up from 1.4 square kilometers in 2011 and 1.9 square kilometers in 2012. When the investment visa program was first introduced in 2010, Chinese owned only 49,000 square meters out of the island’s total area of 1,848 square kilometers.

The island’s geographic location is also a big appeal ― it takes only an hour to fly from Shanghai to Jejudo. According to the Jeju Tour Association, 823,641 Chinese have visited in the first five months, the largest group of foreign travelers to the island.

Many of the ongoing large-scale development projects on Jejudo are being pushed by Chinese companies or joint consortiums involving Chinese.

The Jeju Free International City Development Center said five projects, including a health care town, amusement park and resort complexes, all worth more than 1 trillion won, are underway.

Chinese property developer Greenland Group in 2010 spent $900 million to build a 1.5-square-kilometer health and tourism project, which includes a hotel, medical facilities and shopping malls.

After the success of that project, Greenland Group took on another project to build the island’s biggest building, called “Dream Tower.” The 218-meter-tall structure will have luxury apartments, an upscale hotel and various entertainment facilities as well as duty-free shops with a total area of more than 300,000 square meters.

“The new project is a further demonstration of our optimism on Jejudo Island, where our first project has received very positive feedback from investors, the majority of them Chinese mainlanders,” Zhang Yuliang, chairman of Shanghai Greenland, told local media in November. “We will remain committed to expanding our overseas presence at a rather fast pace as we continue our globalization process.”

Casino operators are also eyeing Jejudo. Genting Singapore Plc, Southeast Asia’s largest casino operator, joined with Hong Kong-listed Chinese property company Landing International Development Ltd. to launch the $2.2 billion Resort World Jeju casino.

Also, Benma Group of China is building a full-size theme park that includes an aquarium, a water park, shopping mall, and a hotel at a total cost of 1.3 trillion won.

Local banks have started services tailored to Chinese clients. A Jejudo branch of Korea Exchange Bank in early June opened a foreign direct investment center to provide financial and consulting service for big Chinese investors.

The move came after the bank, which specializes in foreign currency exchange, drew 260.8 billion won ($256 million) from Chinese customers in the first quarter of this year, a big leap from 45.3 billion won from the previous quarter and 4.3 billion won at the end of 2012.

Woori Bank’s Jejudo branch recently launched a special desk for Chinese to provide banking, real estate and visa consulting services with employees who are fluent in the language.

But not all welcome the inflow of Chinese money, especially island residents who worry about real estate price increases and the destruction of the island’s pristine natural environment.

Property prices in Seogwipo, a southern region where luxury hotels and resorts are concentrated, rose 0.53 percent in February from the previous month, far more than the national average of 0.14 percent, according to the Land Ministry.

The provincial government recently found itself in hot water after allowing U.S. marketing company Amway to set up a big banner at Seongsan Sunrise Peak to welcome Chinese tour groups, an eyesore that residents said was not becoming for a peak designated as a UNESCO natural heritage site.

Amway had arranged an incentive cruise tour to Jejudo for its employees from China and Taiwan, bringing about 17,000 tourists earlier this month.

“I know the Jeju provincial government has made much efforts to host the event, but this is too much. What is this banner at the center of Seongsan Sunrise Peak, which is one of the representative heritage on Jejudo Island?” a netizen named “esther” wrote in Daum Agora, one of the nation’s largest Internet portals, on June 1. “I feel bad whenever I visit Jejudo Island because it is getting more Sinicized.”

Caving to the criticisms, the local government later removed the banner from the peak.

Heeding concerns over reckless development and speculative investment, local officials are seeking ways to put foreign investment under control.

Won Hee-ryong, a former ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker who was elected Jeju governor in the June 4 local elections, said he welcomed “sound” Chinese investment but would take strong action against “speculative money.”

“I will reconsider all reckless development projects and speculative business activities by foreign funds,” Won said in an interview with Yonhap News on June 12. “I will give Jeju islanders the priority so as to push for development in a way that preserves the value of Jejudo Island.”

His pledges included raising the floor price of property needed to qualify for a permanent resident visa, tighter review of land development projects and stronger regulations on real estate speculation.

Last week, the governor-elect urged Genting’s Resort World Jeju resort to delay a ground-breaking ceremony slated for this week, wanting to re-examine the project whose original purpose of construction is suspected to have been arbitrarily changed.

The local government said it is currently reviewing construction permits for the resort.

Residents say Chinese tourists have become an increasingly important source of income and hope the big projects would boost the local economy, but it’s also time to think about making regulations to protect the community and nature.

“We welcome Chinese tourists to Jeju, but I hope natural landscape and beautiful heritages are preserved so that we see tourists from around the world in the long term,” a small noodle shop owner in Seogwipo said. (Yonhap)