By Choi Sung-jin
In order to reinvigorate Korea's tourism industry mired in a protracted deficit, the sector needs to reduce its excessive reliance on Chinese tourists, the central bank said Friday.
According to a report by the Bank of Korea, about 6 million Chinese people visited Korea last year, accounting for 45.4 percent of the total 13.2 million foreign tourists to the country. The share of Chinese tourists stood at 22.7 percent in 2011 but marked an exactly two-fold increase last year.
In comparison, the Chinese tourists' share out of the total foreign of visitors to Japan last year remained at 25.4 percent.
The number of Chinese tourists in Japan has also gradually increased but has not reached a level that causes concerns about its excessiveness, the BOK report shows. "Japan managed to record a surplus in its tourism account last year, mainly by diversifying inbound tourists," it said. "Korea, on the other hand, has failed to get out of the tourism deficit."
Korea sustained a deficit of $9.67 billion in its tourism account last year but recorded a surplus of $6.97 billion in two-way tour trade with China. "To improve this chronic tourism deficit, the nation should reduce its dependency on Chinese tourists and diversify the nationalities of inbound tourists to other regions and countries such as the Middle East, Taiwan and Hong Kong," the central bank report said.
As the reason tourists from other countries do not visit Korea, the report cited the weak competitiveness of Korea's tourism industry. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, the Korean tour industry ranked 29th out of 141 countries in tourism competitiveness, far lower than Japan's ninth.
Another adverse factor is the recent appreciation of the Korean won, which has been revalued 1.2-28 percent against major currencies, such as the yuan and yen, over the past three years.
The sharp drop in the number of Japanese tourists to Korea, because of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and other reasons last year, has also exerted some negative influence, it said.
In order to reinvigorate Korea's tourism industry mired in a protracted deficit, the sector needs to reduce its excessive reliance on Chinese tourists, the central bank said Friday.
According to a report by the Bank of Korea, about 6 million Chinese people visited Korea last year, accounting for 45.4 percent of the total 13.2 million foreign tourists to the country. The share of Chinese tourists stood at 22.7 percent in 2011 but marked an exactly two-fold increase last year.
In comparison, the Chinese tourists' share out of the total foreign of visitors to Japan last year remained at 25.4 percent.
The number of Chinese tourists in Japan has also gradually increased but has not reached a level that causes concerns about its excessiveness, the BOK report shows. "Japan managed to record a surplus in its tourism account last year, mainly by diversifying inbound tourists," it said. "Korea, on the other hand, has failed to get out of the tourism deficit."
Korea sustained a deficit of $9.67 billion in its tourism account last year but recorded a surplus of $6.97 billion in two-way tour trade with China. "To improve this chronic tourism deficit, the nation should reduce its dependency on Chinese tourists and diversify the nationalities of inbound tourists to other regions and countries such as the Middle East, Taiwan and Hong Kong," the central bank report said.
As the reason tourists from other countries do not visit Korea, the report cited the weak competitiveness of Korea's tourism industry. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, the Korean tour industry ranked 29th out of 141 countries in tourism competitiveness, far lower than Japan's ninth.
Another adverse factor is the recent appreciation of the Korean won, which has been revalued 1.2-28 percent against major currencies, such as the yuan and yen, over the past three years.
The sharp drop in the number of Japanese tourists to Korea, because of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and other reasons last year, has also exerted some negative influence, it said.
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