Like many other developed countries, tourism plays an important role in South Korea’s tourism as well. According to a report published on Statista, around 17.5 million tourists were recorded in 2019 in the country, which was an all-time high. One of the major reasons for this rapid attraction towards South Korea is credited to “Hallyu” which means Korean Wave. Korean Wave can be defined as the rising popularity and demand for cultural Korean products in the global arena. Due to Hallyu, Seoul has become the chief tourist destination. Another major reason why people are choosing South Korea as a tourist spot is because of shopping. In 2019, an average tourist spent around 600 USD on shopping per trip, with Chinese tourists spending the most on Korean products. In total, each visitor spends around 1498 USD per vacation in South Korea. Other than Seoul, Busan, Seorak-san national park, Jeju Islan and Gyeongju are amongst the top choices for tourists
this rapid attraction towards South Korea is credited to “Hallyu” which means Korean Wave. Korean Wave can be defined as the rising popularity and demand for cultural Korean products in the global arena. Due to Hallyu, Seoul has become the chief tourist destination. Another major reason why people are choosing South Korea as a tourist spot is because of shopping. In 2019, an average tourist spent around 600 USD on shopping per trip, with Chinese tourists spending the most on Korean products. In total, each visitor spends around 1498 USD per vacation in South Korea. Other than Seoul, Busan, Seorak-san national park, Jeju Islan and Gyeongju are amongst the top choices for tourists.
In 2019 it was recorded that most of the tourists who visited South Korea were in their 20’s and belonged to Mainland China. In fact, in 2016, 46.8% of Korean tourists were Chinese. 75% of the international tourists in Korea are from Asian countries, namely Japan, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. These numbers are phenomenal if get compared to the tourism in the 1990’s. For instance, according to World Data, tourism revenue in 1995 was around $6.67 billion and 24 years later, the amount changed to $26.22 billion. In 2019, the Prime Minis- ter of Korea chaired a meeting to discuss ways to boost national as well as international tourism. As a result, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism works with the Korea Tourism Organization in close proximity. The organization is funded publically, and was recently restructured in a way to strengthen its departments and got aligned with the government’s policies for tourism.
As the global pandemic brought the world down to its knees, the tourism industry of Korea also faced a crisis. Nonetheless, the Korean Tourism Organization is now shifting online for the promotion of their country. They have collaborated with Netflix, and are launching South Korean content, giving viewers a chance to explore their country from behind the screen. Consequently, South Korea is becoming one of the most visited places in recent years, and was ranked amongst top 30 countries in the world.
