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SOUTH KOREA. The number of Chinese visitors to South Korea surged by +46.6% year-on-year in January, hitting 167,022, according to the latest figures from Korea Tourism Organization. The numbers were buoyed by Chinese New Year.
Chinese visitors are now making a huge contribution to Korean tourism and travel retail. In January Chinese made up 22.2% of all arrivals, behind only the 32.4% share of the Japanese. Five years ago, Chinese visitors represented just above 15% of visitors to the country.
Japanese arrivals, the long-time lynchpin of the country’s travel retail channel, grew by +24.5% in January to 244,370 – a strong indicator of the resurgent Japanese outbound market. In 2011, following the March earthquake and tsunami, full-year Japanese travel to Korea grew by +7%.
Taiwanese inbound arrivals to Korea climbed by +69.1% in the month, with Hong Kong visitor numbers more than doubling, though both were from a smaller base.
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Both Chinese and Japanese tourism numbers to South Korea posted healthy growth in January |
