Japan tourism sales surge as boycott loses steam

Passengers travel from Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport to Japan on October 11, 2022, even as the neighboring country eases travel restrictions amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (Yonhap News Agency)

Seoul, February 6 (Korea Business Line) — South Koreans’ negative sentiment towards Japan eased and participation in boycotts fell, a survey showed on Sunday, leading to increased demand for the Asian neighbor.

A survey of 1,000 South Korean adults by Embrain Public showed that the percentage of respondents who said they could not forget Japan’s cultural and historical damage to South Korea dropped from 80.3 percent in December 2020 to 71 percent in December 2022. %.

Those who said they were angry at the thought of Japan also fell from 55 percent to 38.4 percent, while those who said Japan was a hostile country fell from 49.9 percent to 36.1 percent.

The proportion who indicated participation in the boycott of Japanese goods dropped from 71.8% in 2020 to 60% in 2022.

Embrain explained the softening of anti-Japanese sentiment as being influenced by changing Korean perceptions of Japan and its citizens.

The percentage of people who said they would travel to Japan even if they didn’t like it rose from 28.2% in 2020 to 45.5% last year.

The e-commerce platform Gmarket analyzed the trend of overseas flight bookings from January 1 to 17 and found that Osaka, Fukuoka, and Tokyo dominated the list of top three overseas preferred destinations.

Shin JS (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)