Date
2011.09.20
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) forecast the number of foreign visitors to South Korea could reach 9.6 million by the end of this year if no concerted efforts are taken during the coming months.
It said more efforts should be exerted to keep up the momentum of the past few months.
Foreign tourists in South Korea increased greatly in June and July for a gain of 10.8 percent and 16.8 percent on-year, respectively. Last month, the foreign arrivals topped 980,000, up 17 percent from a year ago. It was the first time that inbound tourists had surpassed the 900,000 mark, the KTO said.
It said efforts are underway to strengthen marketing campaigns and spend more to meet this year's 10 million target. The KTO plans to reinforce tourism marketing through the spread of Korean pop culture, also known as the "Korean Wave" or "Hallyu", while seeking to attract visitors from other countries besides China and Japan, it said.
South Korea has recently seen more foreign tourists coming from China and Southeast Asia as they opted for Korea instead of Japan due to the rise of the yen and the March earthquake, it added.
Speaking at a press conference later in the day, Lee Charm, chief of the KTO, said South Korea could even attract 50 million foreign tourists within the next five to six years.
"Our final goal is to attract a larger number of foreigners than our population. This is not a vague future, but something that will be possible quite soon if we put our minds to it and set up the necessary infrastructure," he said.
South Korea had a population of 48.58 million as of last November, according to official data.
The German-born Lee, who became the first naturalized Korean to take a top government post in 2009, said South Korea has a variety of advantages as a tourist spot, including its culture, its four seasons, fashion, food, leisure and city life. He also said he plans to launch a task force to meet the 10 million target.
Source: Yonhap News (Sept. 19. 2011)