The International Olympic Committee fears there will be a lack of accommodation for Pyeongchang 2018 ©Getty Images

There are no plans to build any further accommodation in and around Pyeongchang for when they host the 2018 Winter Olympics and some visitors may have to stay in Seoul during the Games and travel in each day, it was revealed here today. 

Concerns were raised again during the 45th European Olympic Committees General Assembly about the lack of suitable places to stay during the Games, especially for officials, dignitaries and spectators.

Gunilla Lindberg, the Swede who is chair of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission, admitted they were aware of the problem but the South Koreans are refusing to build any more facilities.

The accommodation plan presented by Pyeongchang 2018 during the bid had been praised as "very compact" in the IOC's Evaluation Commission report published a few weeks before they were awarded the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2011.

The InterContinental at the Alpensia Resort will be the main Olympic Family hotel during Pyeongchang 2018 but other visitors may have to stay more than 100 kilometres away in Seoul
The InterContinental at the Alpensia Resort will be the main Olympic Family hotel during Pyeongchang 2018 but other visitors may have to stay more than 100 kilometres away in Seoul ©IHG

They had promised a total of 76,000 rooms would be available within a 50 kilometres radius of Pyeongchang, including the InterContinental at the Alpensia resort, which is expected to be Olympic Family hotel, including for IOC members and other leading officials.

They are not expected to reach this target, however.

"The accommodation situation is not as we expected," Lindberg told delegates from the 50 countries that make up the EOC here today.

"We don't have much hope it will be changing."

Instead, it is expected that some people will have to stay in Seoul.

Pyeongchang is 126 kilometres east of the South Korean capital. 

South Korea is currently building a high-speed rail link that will reduce the current travelling time between Seoul and Pyeongchang from nearly five hours to little over 60 minutes.

It is due to open in July 2017.

"It's not a perfect solution," said Lindberg, who is scheduled to travel to Pyeongchang later this month for a project review.

"We [the IOC] are pushing all the time but the answer from South Korea is no, they won't be building anything else."



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