Seoul dominates Chinese tourism in Korea

More than 90 percent of the 2.2 million Chinese tourists to Korea visit Seoul, stay six days and spend $250 per day on average, according to statistics released by The Seoul Institute, a Seoul city government-run research institute, this week.

The figures based on data from 2011 showed that 91.1 percent of Chinese travelers visited Seoul and women travelers outnumbered men, with the men-to-women ratio changing from 57:43 in 2007 to 49:51 in 2011.

The two most popular places to visit were Myeong-dong and Dongdaemun Market, followed by Namsan Tower, Lotte World and Namdaemun Market. About 77 percent of travel expenses were on shopping. Major shopping items were perfumes and cosmetics.

(wylee@heraldcorp.com)