By Jung Min-ho
China is trying to kill it; and North Korea isn’t helping it. South Korea’s tourism industry will likely see the biggest-ever deficit this year, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said Thursday.
The KTO estimated that the deficit will reach a record $15 billion (17 trillion won) and the total number of visitors will be around 12.5 million, down 27 percent from 2016, by the end of the year.
An increasing number of Koreans traveling overseas is also widening the deficit. The KTO believes the number will surpass 26.6 million, an 18.9 percent increase from last year.
“Since 2007, this will be the first year that the number of Koreans traveling abroad will be more than double that of foreign visitors here,” KTO President Jung Chang-soo said at a meeting Wednesday. “While the gap in 2007 was 6.9 million, it is expected to be 14 million. The size of the deficit will also jump to $15 billion from $10.8 billion.”
According to the KTO, the number of Chinese visitors decreased by 62.4 percent from March to July since China’s government started economic retaliation against the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery here, compared with the same period last year.
As North Korea and the United States have raised military tension on the peninsula over the past few weeks, an increasing number of Japanese are becoming reluctant to visit. In a survey by Fuji News Network, 92.1 percent of respondents said they feel insecure over North Korea’s war threats, the KTO noted.
China and Japan are South Korea’s biggest sources of tourists. Of 17.2 million foreigners visiting here last year, nearly half of them were Chinese (8 million), followed by Japanese (2.3 million).
This has put the KTO on edge. As part of an effort to diversify the country’s tourism market, the KTO is mainly targeting three countries ― Vietnam, Taiwan and Russia. It plans to hold more promotional events there in the coming months with Korean celebrities.
The KTO also expects many more tourists from Kazakhstan and Mongolia, where it opened offices this year.
Meanwhile, the KTO is pinning hopes on the PyeongChang Winter Games, which is scheduled to be held from Feb. 9 to 25. In the run-up to the Olympics, the KTO will beef up its promotions through more online marketing and interactions with media companies.