Inbound tourism to Korea continues to sink
Chinese tourism to Korea continued to drop off at an alarming rate in August, declining 61.2%.
It marked the sixth consecutive month of falling arrivals due to political tensions over the deployment of the THAAD US built anti-missile system.
Just 339,000 Chinese visitors visited the country last month, compared to 873,000 a year ago, according to official Korea Tourism Organization data, however the KTO points out the August decline is actually less than the previous month’s 69% drop.
So far for the January-August 2017 period inbound tourism from China is down 48.8%.
The unofficial Chinese tourism boycott has dragged down overall arrival figures with a decline of more than a third in August, although South Korea has seen some minor progress in diversifying source markets.
It has been targeting Southeast Asia as a tourism plan B, rolling out e-visas and heavily marketing the country in countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The South Korean government has designated 2017 as ASEAN-Korea Cultural Exchange Year, supported by various events and promotional campaigns.
There has been a big uptick in arrivals from Vietnam in particular, which has grown 29% so far this year.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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