From mountain peaks to film sets, foreign tourists redefine Seoul itineraries

Cherry blossom trees are in full bloom with N Seoul Tower in the background at Namsan Park in central Seoul in 2025. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Foreign visitors are increasingly venturing beyond Seoul's iconic shopping districts and royal landmarks, embracing filming locations, traditional markets and mountain trails as the city's tourism landscape grows more diverse, according to a new data analysis released Wednesday.

The Seoul AI Foundation said its analysis of foreign visitor movement and online reviews found tourism demand spreading across a wider range of destinations throughout the capital in 2025.

The study examined 16 major attractions using SK Telecom roaming-based mobility data and Google Maps reviews from foreign visitors.

Myeong-dong attracted the largest average daily number of foreign visitors at 100,910.

N Seoul Tower followed with 57,370 visitors, ahead of Samseong Station and Coex with 46,813, Gangnam Station with 41,210 and the Hongdae area with 40,213.

The fastest growth was recorded at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, where foreign visitor traffic rose 12.1 percent.

The Hongdae area and Naksan Park each posted a 10.5 percent increase, while Gwangjang Market rose 10.4 percent.

N Seoul Tower recorded the highest share of foreign visitors among all visitors at 55.7 percent.

Myeong-dong followed at 47.1 percent, with Namdaemun Market, Samseong Station and Coex and Dongdaemun Design Plaza also drawing relatively high proportions of overseas travelers.

The analysis found that historical attractions such as Gyeongbok Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village were especially popular with visitors from Vietnam, the Philippines and Singapore.

Shopping destinations including Myeong-dong, Namdaemun Market and Gwangjang Market attracted larger shares of tourists from Japan and China.

The report also pointed to the rapid rise of what it described as K-hiking.

Among Seoul's mountain destinations, Mount Bukhan drew the largest average daily number of foreign hikers at 4,015.

Mount Acha posted the strongest growth at 11.8 percent, followed by Mount Gwanak at 10 percent.

Google Maps reviews showed Gyeongbok Palace received the highest average rating of 4.7 out of 5, while Seoul Forest recorded the highest positive sentiment at 79.9 percent.

The foundation said multilingual guidance, navigation and visitor facilities remain areas requiring further improvement.

“This analysis is meaningful because it uses data to examine where foreign tourists are going in Seoul and how they are experiencing the city,” said Kim Man-gi, president of the Seoul AI Foundation.

He said the foundation will continue producing research to support tourism policy and data-driven decision-making.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.