While the number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea has significantly increased, the duration of their stay and spending on accommodations and dining have decreased, prompting calls for a shift towards 'stay-type tourism.'
According to data submitted by Jeong Yeon-wook, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, the number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea rose from 11.03 million in 2023 to 18.94 million last year, marking a 71.7% increase. From January to August of this year, the number of visitors reached 15.05 million, a 21.6% increase compared to the same period last year.
In contrast, the average length of stay has decreased from 7.8 days to 6.5 days. Average spending per person on accommodations has dropped by 17.8%, while dining expenses have decreased by 16.9%. The rate of repeat visitors has remained stagnant at around 54% to 56% for the past four years.
The situation is similar for cruise passengers. Although the number of cruise passengers has increased 4.5 times over the past three years to 905,000, spending per person has decreased by 81% compared to a decade ago. Passengers visiting Busan spent an average of only 6.7 hours on land.
The Korea Tourism Organization noted that a lack of on-site guidance often leads passengers to remain near the port or return to their ships immediately. However, it has been reported that the organization does not directly survey the disembarkation rate of passengers.
Medical tourists, who spend 3.8 times more than regular tourists, concentrated heavily in Seoul, with 87.2% of them visiting the capital. The remaining 12 provinces, excluding Seoul, Busan, Gyeonggi, Jeju, and Incheon, accounted for only 2.7% of medical tourists.
Efforts to address the inconveniences faced by foreign tourists have been slow. The Korea Tourism Organization's inspection team identified 84 areas for improvement across 24 locations nationwide during visits in June and July, including a lack of foreign language assistance in 18 areas. These findings were only communicated to local governments in September. The number of inspectors has been reduced from 100 to 50, and there are no foreign inspectors.
Jeong stated, "The responsibilities for cruise visas lie with the Ministry of Justice, terminal operations with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and foreign patient management with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, leading to fragmented tourism management. The goal of 30 million visitors should be seen as a means to an end. The organization should incorporate stay duration and repeat visitor rates as performance indicators and initiate discussions with tourism agencies."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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