The number of Chinese visitors to Korea shot up 41.6% to record 6.127 million last year， according to a report by Korea Tourism Organization (KTO). Chinese visitors contributed 18.6 trillion won (approx: US$16.9 billion) to Korea’s economy, spending an average of 3 million won (approx: US$2,725) per person.
The total revenue contributed by Chinese visitors is equivalent to the revenue of exporting 698,200 cars to the USA, based on the average of US$24,284 for a Hyundai Genesis or Sonata. Meanwhile, Chinese tourists are directly responsible for creating 340,000 jobs, equivalent to 0.06 jobs created per visitor.
KTO estimates that arrivals from China to Korea will increase to 7.2 million this year, contributing 22 trillion won (approx: US$20 billion) to the economy.
The Korean government is taking active measures to attract more Chinese visitors, including identifying ethical and quality service vendors, equipping integrated hospitals with overnight accommodation for tourists, adding 1,000 Chinese translators and increasing Chinese signage as well as hosting tourism fairs in China. (Translation by David)
