Weak won, K-beauty fuel Chinese shopping trips, spending in Korea
A street in the popular tourist district of Myeong-dong in central Seoul is seen in this undated file photo. Yonhap
When Chelsea Wang travelled to Seoul with two friends in late April, they barely visited any of the city's palaces or tourist attractions.
Instead, their three-and-a-half-day itinerary revolved around duty-free shopping, beauty treatments, hair salons and cosmetics stores.
Wang arrived with a shopping list of her own: a backpack she estimated would cost at least 500 yuan ($70) less than in China, and a bottle of perfume at a similar discount.
One of her friends, Wu, a 28-year-old white-collar worker from China who was preparing for marriage, had an even bigger purchase planned. After comparing prices, she bought a Chaumet wedding ring at Lotte Duty Free in Seoul's Myeong-dong neighborhood for about 37,000 yuan after discounts, tax refunds and favourable exchange rates were figured in — roughly 11,000 yuan less than she would have paid in China.
"It was really quite a good deal," Wu said.
Their purchases came as the Korean won has remained weak against major currencies over the past year. One yuan was worth an average of about 226 won in June, compared with around 209 won in January, according to exchange-rate data, increasing Chinese consumers' purchasing power in Korea.
The Korea Culture and Tourism Institute (KCTI), a government-funded research institute, said in its June tourism outlook that the weaker won had improved Korea's price competitiveness and overseas visitors' purchasing power. The institute said the currency effect, together with expanded flight capacity and the continued global popularity of Korean cultural content, helped support inbound tourism.
Tourists walk through Myeong-dong in Seoul, Sept. 29, 2025, the first day of visa-free entry. Korea Times photo by Hong In-ki
Government data suggest that momentum is increasingly visible in tourist spending.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), Korea welcomed about 1.95 million international tourists in May, with 563,000 hailing from China, up from 484,390 a year ago. Foreign visitors' credit card spending exceeded 2 trillion won (US$1.45 billion) for the first time in May, climbing 67.1 per cent year on year to a record 2.12 trillion won.
Chinese visitors were the biggest driver of the increase, with their card spending surging 214 per cent year-on-year in May to extend an uptrend that has continued throughout the year. The KTO said Chinese tourists dominated ultra-luxury shopping, boosting sales of watches, jewellery and luxury accessories.
The agency said inbound consumption has increasingly shifted beyond traditional duty-free shopping toward what it described as "lifestyle consumption" — experiences that mirror everyday life in Korea, from beauty treatments and pharmacies to fashion and local retail.
That was exactly how another Chinese visitor, Grace Gu, described her recent trip.
The 32-year-old Shanghai-based media professional travelled to Seoul with her sister in late May. Although the trip was initially planned as a family holiday to Japan, shopping and beauty services soon became the centrepiece of their itinerary after they shifted their plans to Korea.
"The exchange rate was one factor," Gu said. "Once you realise the won is cheap, you naturally start searching for products and comparing prices. Then you realise the value for money is really high and you naturally want to buy more."
During her five-day stay, Gu spent one day shopping, and another receiving cosmetic treatments in Gangnam and getting a haircut. Altogether, she spent more than 10,000 yuan on flights, hotels, food, shopping and beauty services.
At Olive Young's flagship Myeong-dong store, Gu said customers were still queuing to pay shortly before closing, many carrying large bags filled with skincare products and cosmetics.
"You could really feel this consumption carnival," she said. "In Korea, getting a haircut, visiting beauty clinics and shopping for cosmetics all felt like activities that naturally belonged to the trip."
Retailers have also noticed the trend.
CJ Olive Young said repeat visits by overseas shoppers have been increasing annually, more than doubling each year since 2023. According to the beauty retailer, 6,200 foreigners who traveled to Korea shopped at Olive Young three or more times during its discount events last year alone.
Chinese shoppers browse the facial mask section at CJ Olive Young’s Myeongdong Town store in Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Park Kyung-dam
Still, economists caution against attributing the inbound tourism boom solely to currency movements.
Park Seok-gil, chief Korea economist at J.P. Morgan, said the weaker won had "to some degree" contributed to the recovery in foreign tourist spending, but cautioned against overstating its macroeconomic impact.
Inbound tourism and foreign card spending are rising as part of a gradual post-pandemic recovery, Park said, adding that non-economic factors, including the popularity of Korean culture and K-beauty, are also shaping foreign visitors’ preferences.
"It is increasing, and that is for sure, but not strong enough to change the overall macro picture," Park said, adding that Korea's domestic consumption outlook still depends primarily on household purchasing power, income growth, wealth effects and interest rates rather than foreign tourist spending.
Bank of Korea data cited by the investment bank also suggest that the recovery in Chinese tourism remains incomplete: Korea's travel surplus with China stood at $3.77 billion in 2025, below $4.32 billion recorded in 2024 and well short of the $7.61 billion surplus in 2016.
Chinese tourism to Korea plunged after deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile battery in Korea flared into bilateral tensions, and was further hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, the nature of Chinese tourism appears to be changing. Park said group tours and professional cross-border personal shoppers were more visible before the pandemic, while individual travellers now appear to make up a larger part of the flow.