By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff reporter
It is not uncommon these days to spot groups of Chinese tourists shopping at department stores and buying souvenirs from street vendors in downtown Seoul. Simpler visa rules and a strong yuan are attracting them to Korea in massive numbers.
In contrast, the number of Japanese visitors is declining this year as the Korean won gains ground against the yen and the world's second largest economy continues to remain in a deep slump.
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said Wednesday that the number of Chinese visitors totaled 147,000 in April, up 36 percent from a year earlier. The organization expects about 140,000 Chinese to visit Korea in May, up 60 percent from the previous year, pushing up the cumulative figure from January through May to 662,000, up 26 percent from the same period last year.
"Despite the worldwide economic downturn, a number of Chinese tourists came here and spent record amounts of money in 2009. The trend is continuing this year on the easing of the nation's visa rules for Chinese nationals and a stronger yuan," a KTO spokesman said. "But we think this shows that our intensive marketing activities designed to attract visitors from the world's fastest growing economy have finally paid off."
He also said more tourists from Hong Kong, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries have come here this year than last year, in line with improving economic conditions across the globe.
However, Korea has failed to attract as many Japanese visitors as it did last year. Riding high on the Korean won's weakness against the Japanese yen, a record number of Japanese tourists came here and went on a buying spree for luxury goods at local department stores.
The organization said the number of Japanese visitors fell 13 percent to 239,000 in April from the previous year. But the figure is projected to jump 2 percent to 215,000 in May.
"Given the record number of Japanese visitors in 2009, it is inevitable for us to experience a temporary decline this year. But still, more Japanese tourists came here than previously projected. We think the number will bounce back to last year's level toward the year's end, despite the strengthening of the local currency against the yen," the spokesman said.