Language tops foreign tourists complaint list

By Lee Hyo-sik

Communication problems top the complaint list of foreigners who visit Korea, with nearly half of non-Korean travelers saying they experienced a high degree of difficulty in communicating with locals in English or other widely spoken international languages.

Other difficulties facing tourists here include a shortage of affordable and clean lodging facilities, high prices of various goods and services, traffic congestion, inadequate directional signs and overly localized foods.

According to a survey released by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) Wednesday, 45.8 percent of respondents said they often faced trouble in conversing with Koreans and obtaining tourism-related information while traveling here, as most Koreans are not proficient enough to communicate in English, Japanese or Chinese. Respondents were allowed to give multiple answers.

The high price of food and lodging were their second biggest complaint (34 percent), followed by traffic congestion (30.6 percent), overly localized foods (18.4 percent) and inadequate directional signs (12.1 percent), revealed the survey of 506 foreigners who have resided in Korea for more than six months and traveled at least once.

Regarding a trip to tourist destinations in provincial areas, 45.3 percent of respondents said they are worried about higher travel expenses, followed by long distance (41.3 percent) and lack of tourist information (34.4 percent).

Meanwhile, foreign residents picked the nation’s southern resort island of Jeju as their favorite destination from among 16 large municipalities, followed by Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon Province.

Their favorite spots include N Tower on Seoul’s Mt. Nam, the fashion district of Myeong-dong, Haeundae Beach in Busan, the royal Gyeongbok Palace, Yeouido Park in Seoul, Everland theme park in Yongin and Mt. Seorak National Park in Gangwon Province.

For those who have not yet done so, about 51 percent of respondents said they would like to visit Jeju Island, followed by Busan (23.7 percent), Gangwon Province (6.5 percent) and Seoul (4.7 percent).

Some 4.14 million foreign tourists visited the country in the first six months of the year, up 9.2 percent from the same period last year.

언어장벽이 외국인 여행객 불평 1위

의사소통 문제가 국내 거주 외국인 들의 불평 1순위를 차지했다. 외국인 여행자 절반 정도가 영어나 세계에서 사용되는 다른 공용어로 현지인들과 의사소통을 하는 것이 매우 어려웠다고 말했다.

관광객들이 겪는 다른 고충으로서는 저렴하고 깨끗한 숙소 부족, 너무 비싼 물품과 서비스, 교통혼잡, 부적절한 표지판, 너무 토속적인 음식 등을 꼽았다.

한국관광공사가 수요일 공개한 설문조사에 따르면 응답자 중 45.8 퍼센트가 대부분의 한국인들이 영어, 일본어, 중국어를 능숙하게 할 수 없기 때문에 여행 중 한국인들과 대화하여 관광 정보를 얻는 것이 어려웠다고 밝혔다. 설문은 두 가지를 응답하도록 돼 있다.

두 번째로 가장 많았던 불평은 비싼 음식과 숙박비였고 (34퍼센트), 그 다음으로는 교통혼잡 (30.6퍼센트), 너무 토속적인 음식들 (18.4퍼센트) , 부적절한 표지판 (12.1퍼센트) 순이었다. 이 같은 결과는 관광공사가 국내에서 6개월 이상 살면서 한 번 이상 국내 여행을 한 외국인 506명의 설문조사에서 나타났다.