It is good news for the Korean economy, which has been struggling with sluggish domestic consumption, that the country’s tourism revenue has been sharply increasing.
In the first 10 months of this year, Korea’s tourism revenue amounted to $14.78 billion, surpassing the previous record of $14.16 billion set in 2013, according to data compiled jointly by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute. The revenue is estimated to reach $16.7 billion by the end of the year, up 17.9 percent from last year, with the number of foreign tourists visiting the country projected to rise by 15 percent on-year to exceed 14 million this year.
Tourism officials here attribute the rising figures mainly to an upsurge in the number of Chinese travelers, who spend more money than tourists from other countries. In the January-October period, the number of Chinese tourists increased by 39 percent from a year earlier to 5.25 million, according to the data released Sunday. An average Chinese visitor spent about $1,740 here.
Korea is hoping to attract more than 20 million foreign tourists annually by 2020. This goal seems within reach as the growing number of travelers from China and Southeast Asia is expected to more than offset the decrease in the number of Japanese tourists.
To achieve this target and further enhance its tourism industry, Korea needs to strengthen efforts to induce more foreign travelers to revisit the country and tour other places besides Seoul.
Most first-time tourists here have flocked to Seoul, barely going beyond the capital city to visit other tourism attractions across the country. A study by the Tourism Ministry showed the proportion of foreign travelers to Seoul increased from 77.4 percent in 2009 to 80.9 percent last year.
Low interest in regional tourism attractions in the country has partly resulted in less than 40 percent of individual foreign tourists revisiting here.
Therefore, a wider range of programs should be worked out and accommodating facilities should be expanded and upgraded to attract more foreign travelers to regional destinations.
In recent years, the central government has pushed for a set of projects to help municipalities improve their tourism conditions. Its support now needs to be concentrated on places with more potential to draw tourists from abroad. Regional residents should also be encouraged to join the efforts to make their towns and villages more attractive, convenient and friendly to foreign visitors.
Tourism officials here need to pay heed to various measures taken by Japan to divert foreign travelers to places other than its capital of Tokyo over the past years. Nearly half of its tourists visit Kyoto, Osaka and other provincial cities.
Korea is in no position to remain complacent about the rising tourism revenue and the surging number of visitors from abroad in recent years. If this trend is to continue and bring more benefits to the Korean economy, more foreign travelers, especially those from China, should be attracted to regional locations.
