South Korean retailers and hotels are enjoying a boom as more than 180,000 foreigners are expected to visit South Korea due to a surge in domestic and foreign tourists from across North Asia during the early May holidays.
Japan has entered its Golden Week holiday this week, while China’s five-day Labor Day holiday begins on Wednesday. South Korea has a long weekend this week and an alternative public holiday on May 6th.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea on Tuesday, about 100,000 Japanese tourists and 80,000 Chinese tourists are expected to come to South Korea from April 27 to May 6.
Hotels and casinos are the main beneficiaries of the boom. Hotels in Jeju Island, South Korea’s top resort, are fully booked. Grand Hyatt Jeju Island reported that 11,890 rooms were booked between April 27 and May 5, the largest number of bookings since its opening.
“This is the best boom since COVID-19. It looks like another wave of Chinese tourists is coming.
The Lotte Hotel Seoul in Myeongdong, a must-see for foreign tourists, has a booking rate of more than 80% during this period, even though room rates are 120,000 won ($86.80) higher per night than usual.
According to Singapore-based Trip.com Group, one of the world’s largest online travel agencies, Seoul was among the top five tourist destinations during the holiday period in early May, along with Tokyo, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Taipei.
A person involved in the Korean tourism industry said, “During the holidays, Chinese tourists continued to pour in, and flights between China and South Korea were all sold out.” “Compared with the Lunar New Year holiday earlier this year, when the industry failed to Enjoy the boom because it’s too early to feel the impact of China’s lifting of restrictions on group visitors to (South Korea).”
casino
Yeongjongdo, which is close to Incheon International Airport, South Korea’s main gateway, has also seen an increasing number of Chinese and Japanese tourists as the island is home to casinos for foreigners.
Paradise City, a resort run by major casino operator Paradise Co., has more than 90% of its rooms booked this week, half of which are foreigners.
“A lot of big casino names from Japan are here,” said a Paradise City official. “Suites and pool villas priced from 10 million won to 20 million won a night are fully booked by foreigners.”
The Mohegan Inspire, which recently opened a casino on the island, is also sold out.
Department stores, duty-free shops
Retailers aim to attract foreign tourists through various promotional activities.
Lotte Department Store, South Korea’s largest shopping mall operator, held celebrations around its main store in Myeongdong starting from April 27, the start of Japan’s Golden Week. In the latest week, credit card payments made by foreigners at the branch doubled from a year ago.
Sales by foreigners at the Hyundai Seoul store and Shinsegae Department Store, both must-visits for young foreigners, surged 785.4% and 309% respectively during this period.
Duty-free shops, which have struggled to recover due to a lack of Chinese tourists, have launched promotions to attract international tourists.
For example, Lotte Duty Free will offer various discounts to individual foreign tourists in offline stores until May 12. South Korea’s leading duty-free shop operator is offering free gifts based on purchases, with its digital payment system LDF Pay worth 10,000 won, which can only be used to purchase Korean beauty and fashion products in each category. It also offers benefits of up to 70,000 won for cosmetics shoppers.
Sustainable recovery?
South Korea’s tourism industry is closely watching whether the boom is sustainable, as tourists from China and Japan are key to the industry’s recovery.
The total number of Chinese tourists reached 1 million in the first quarter, more than seven times the number a year ago, while the number of Japanese tourists almost doubled to 665,893, according to the Korea Tourism Organization. They are still only 76.1% and 83.8% respectively of what they were before the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019.
Analysts say tourists from China and Japan are expected to be central to the South Korean government’s goal of attracting 20 million tourists from other countries. In 2019, tourists from surrounding areas accounted for 53% of the total number of tourists.
“Many tourists from new markets such as Southeast Asia and the Americas are coming in, but more importantly the number of tourists from China and Japan is recovering,” another tourism official said.
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Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.
