By Lee Hyo-sik
The number of Chinese tourists travelling to Korea this year will determine whether it achieves its ambitious goal of drawing over 10 million foreign visitors, up sharply from last year’s 8.8 million, a state-run tourism promotion body said Tuesday.
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said the number of inbound tourists grew at a slower rate in the first six months of 2011, due to Japan’s earthquake and other unfavorable external conditions, but expects to bounce back sharply in the latter half.
It said it will place top priority on attracting visitors from the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong for the remainder of the year, expressing cautious optimism that unless new external risks emerge, the nation will reach 10 million visitors.
However, private tourism industry experts say it will be impossible.
They project that foreign visitors will continue to increase at a sluggish pace for the remainder of the year as radiation leaks in Japan and the persistent geopolitical risks associated with North Korea continue to weigh heavily.
Additionally, a shortage of decent accommodation facilities in Seoul and other popular tourism destinations will have a negative impact, experts said.
KTO estimated that 918,960 Chinese came here in the first six months of 2011, up 11.4 percent from the same period last year. In 2010, the number of Chinese visitors to Korea soared by 39.7 percent to 1.87 million from the previous year.
The overall inbound foreign tourists reached 4.33 million in the first half of the year, up only 4.1 percent from the same period in 2010, with Japanese tourists falling 4.3 percent to 1.46 million.
“Following North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), fewer Chinese people than expected have come here. The story is the same for other nationals. Japan’s earthquake and following radiation leaks further reduced inbound foreign tourists,” said Kwak Sang-sup, senior manager at KTO’s Chinese team.
But Kwak said things will improve significantly for the domestic tourism sector in the second half as more foreigners from China and Southeast Asian countries visit here on the growing popularity of K-pop.
“We expect the number of Japanese travelers to remain at last year’s level of 3 million. But we expect more Chinese from the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong to come here. To attract over 3 million Chinese visitors this year, we will boost our marketing activities and introduce a series of promotion campaigns there,” the senior manager said.
He said an influx of Chinese tourists is necessary to help it achieve its objective as the number of Japanese visitors stagnates.
On July 19, KTO CEO Lee Charm held a meeting in Beijing with heads of KTO branch offices in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao to discuss how to best promote Korea among outgoing Chinese travelers. Lee visited Qingdao and other cities to encourage government officials and business executives there to come to Korea on a group tour.
He also promoted the country’s upcoming international events, including the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu and the 2012 Yeosu Expo.
In contrast, tourism industry experts paint a gloomy picture, saying that Korea is facing an array of obstacles in drawing large numbers of Chinese and other foreign tourists.
“Korea won’t be able to achieve its goal of drawing 10 million foreigners this year. It will even fail to achieve last year’s number. Besides unfavorable external conditions, inadequate tourism infrastructure here is making it difficult for the country to accommodate as many inbound visitors as it wants to,” said Park Jae-youl, Japan division manager at Global Tour, which caters to Japanese and Chinese inbound tourists.
Park said his company and other travel agencies cannot bring more tourists into the country, due to lack of affordable hotels in Seoul, Jeju and other popular sites across the country.
“Many Chinese seeking to tour Seoul have to sleep in Suwon and other cities in Gyeonggi Province, and commute between Seoul and its suburbs. It certainly does not encourage them to return,” he said.
Park also said the government should crack down on travel agents selling low-priced tourist packages, which often draw complaints and tarnish Korea’s image as an attractive tourist destination.
“Korea should upgrade the quality of its tourism assets. To nurture a premium and lucrative tourism industry, the government should force travel agencies to refrain from selling low-priced, low-quality travel packages, and introduce value-added travel products,” he stressed.