Seoul City "All-Out Effort for Early Recovery of Seoul Tourism After COVID-19"

Goal to Leap Back to Pre-COVID Levels in the Second Half of the Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Tourism Foundation announced on the 14th that they will launch the ‘Seoul Tourism Reconstruction and Boom-up Measures’ with the goal of restoring Seoul tourism, which has suffered a prolonged slump due to COVID-19, to pre-pandemic levels within the second half of the year. As the COVID-19 pandemic stabilizes and daily life recovers, the tourism market is entering a full-fledged recovery phase. The aim is to quickly restore the collapsed tourism ecosystem and lay the groundwork for an era of 30 million foreign tourists in the future.

With the global tourism market entering a full recovery phase, the number of foreign tourists visiting Seoul last year reached 2.44 million, an increase of about 230% compared to 740,000 in 2021. However, this is only about 18% of the 13.9 million visitors in 2019 before COVID-19, indicating the need for an aggressive strategy to normalize Seoul tourism early. Accordingly, the ‘Seoul Tourism Reconstruction and Boom-up Measures’ have been established, focusing on five key strategies.

As the end of the COVID-19 tunnel comes into sight and the world is paying attention to Seoul’s trendy lifestyle represented by K-Culture, this is seen as the optimal time to bring Seoul tourism back on track. The year 2023 is designated as the ‘Year of Seoul Tourism Recovery,’ marking the beginning of a full-scale resurgence of Seoul tourism.

To this end, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to focus on restoring the tourism industry ecosystem damaged by COVID-19 through support for the tourism sector until April, and to intensively promote Seoul’s urban charm through targeted market local promotions. In May, the large-scale tourism event Seoul Festa will be held to create an opportunity for Seoul tourism’s resurgence, and in the second half of the year, all efforts will be concentrated on normalizing the Seoul tourism market to pre-COVID-19 levels.

On the same day, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Tourism Foundation held a 2023 Seoul Tourism Business Briefing at the Seoul Tourism Plaza for 250 tourism companies to share tourism policy directions and support projects aimed at the early recovery of the Seoul tourism market.

Kim Young-hwan, Director of the Seoul Tourism and Sports Bureau, stated, “2023 is a very important year for Seoul to lay the foundation for attracting 30 million foreign tourists in the future.” He added, “Together with the Seoul tourism industry, we will commercialize Seoul’s infinite charm as tourism products and widely promote it worldwide to ensure that Seoul tourism quickly rebounds to pre-COVID-19 levels with full efforts.”