By Lee Hyo-sik
BUYEO ― South Korea cannot accommodate too many foreign tourists even if it emerges as one of the top global travel destinations, due to a shortage of hotels and other key tourism infrastructure, the nation’s top tourism official said Wednesday.
On the sidelines of the T20 Ministers’ Meeting in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province, from Oct. 11 to 13, Yu In-chon, minister of culture, sports and tourism, told reporters Wednesday that a growing number of inbound tourists are facing difficulties in finding decent lodging facilities at affordable prices.
``Korea has become a popular destination, particularly for Chinese and other Asian travelers. But the problem is that we cannot handle too many foreign visitors if their numbers exceed 10 million, due to a lack of hotels and other accommodation facilities,’’ Yu said.
He said the country has only about 220 hotels across the country, compared to 20,000 in China.
The minister said Korea should construct more affordable accommodation and casinos, as well as develop the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and the southern coast to become an attractive tourist destination.
The nation attracted a total of 7.82 million foreign visitors in 2009, mostly Japanese and Chinese. This year, it seeks to draw about 8.5 million tourists from overseas.
But the minister’s remarks indicate that the nation’s efforts to invite as many non-Korean travelers as possible this year and beyond will be unlikely to succeed unless more hotels are built and other tourism infrastructure improved.
For instance, nearly 60,000 Chinese visitors came here during the Chinese National Day holiday from Oct. 1 to 7, up 30 percent from the same period last year. But they had a hard time finding places to stay in Seoul and Jeju Island. Streets leading to and out of popular tourist spots in Seoul suffered more than the usual traffic congestion as many tour buses carrying Chinese tourists parked on the side of the roads, due to a shortage of parking lots.