No. of hotels rises 54% since 2012 on increasing Chinese tourists
gettyimagesbank
By Jun Ji-hye
The numbers of hotels and rooms across the country have increased 53.7 percent and 75 percent, respectively, over the past seven years, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The ministry attributed the rapid increase in the number of hotels to the government's relaxation of regulations in response to a growing numbers of Chinese travelers.
The number of hotels nationwide as of the end of last year stood at 1,050, up from the 683 tallied at the end of 2012.
The government eased regulations regarding the construction of hotels from July 2012 to December 2016 as the number of Chinese tourists coming to Korea had skyrocketed over that period.
This increased the number of hotels by more than 100 in 2014 alone. Since then the figure has continue to rise, increasing by 70 in 2015 and 64 in 2016.
The rise, however, has been slowing since 2017 due to the Chinese government's economic retaliation against the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in Korea.
At the time, Beijing claimed the THAAD deployment damaged its security interests and it banned group tours to Korea, hitting the tourism industry hard.
The number of hotels increased by only 18 in 2018, and nine last year.
The ministry said Seoul and the surrounding areas including Incheon and Gyeonggi Province have 540 hotels that account for more than half the number of hotels across the country, followed by 127 on Jeju Island and 81 in Busan.
“The number of hotels in Seoul has increased 120.5 percent over the past seven years,” a ministry official said.