Korea aims to attract 20 million tourists next year

Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Yoo In-chon talks with Visit Korea Committee Chairperson and Hotel Silla CEO Lee Boo-jin during a press conference in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

Korea plans to take advantage of the growing global popularity of Korean culture to attract 20 million foreign tourists next year, the government announced, Monday.

“In celebration of the Visit Korea Year, the culture ministry plans to go all out to discover and develop differentiated tourism content and attract 20 million inbound travelers next year,” Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Yoo In-chon said during a press conference in central Seoul.

The press conference was the ministry’s first tourism-related official event in celebration of the 2023-2024 Visit Korea Year, since Yoo’s coming to office last month.

The event was joined by Hotel Silla CEO Lee Boo-jin, who serves as head of the Visit Korea Committee, and the country’s key players in the tourism, beauty, fashion and culture industries, including AmorePacific CEO Kim Seung-hwan, Seoul-based travel information platform Creatrip’s CEO Yim Hae-min, global dance company 1 MILLION Dance Studio CEO Yoon Yeo-wook and local fashion brand Andersson Bell CEO Choi Jung-hee.

“Surveys show that foreign tourists tend to visit Korea to explore the country’s food, shopping, music, beauty and fashion culture,” Yoo said, underscoring the need for government’s cooperation with the lifestyle sector, which have been driving Korea’s tourism demand despite often having been neglected.

Yoo pointed out that the country has seen a deficit in the tourism industry, as outbound travelers have outnumbered inbound tourists since the post-pandemic reopening of borders this year.

According to the Korea Tourism Organization’s data, over 16.1 million Koreans traveled abroad by September this year, which is significantly higher than the 7.65 million inbound travelers who visited Korea during the same time period.

The culture minister said the tourism industry faces new challenges in changing times. Yoo served as a culture minister between 2008 and 2011 during the former Lee Myung-bak administration, during which the government focused on spurring the MICE (meetings, incentive tours, conventions and exhibitions) industry.

“For sure, there should be a strategic shift in policies. The times have changed … and now it’s the time of artificial intelligence and computer graphics, where foreign independent travelers with a wide range of personal interests outnumber tour groups. The strategy (to attract inbound tourists) needs to be completely overturned,” he said.

Visit Korea Committee Chairperson Lee echoed Yoo's view. “The depth of knowledge and interests of foreign travelers on Korean culture are growing deeper day by day,” she said, vowing that the committee will “communicate and cooperate with the tourism industry” to boost the country’s inbound tourism along with changing trends.

In response, the meeting’s participants requested government-led cooperation to enable the industry’s development and growth.

The dance studio CEO highlighted the need to link tourism to the growing popularity of Korean pop culture worldwide.

Meanwhile, the ministry is optimistic about reaching a total of 10 million inbound tourists by the year-end, as over 8.5 million have visited the country as of the end of October.