Chinese Visitors to Korea Reach 1 Million Cumulative in March
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 31st that it held the 'K-Tourism Roadshow' in Qingdao and Guangzhou, China, in collaboration with the Korea Tourism Organization to attract visitors to Korea.
This year, the number of Chinese visitors to Korea is estimated to approach 1 million cumulatively by March, with 280,000 in January and 340,000 in February. This event is a marketing campaign targeting summer tourism this year, in line with the increasing trend of Chinese visitors to Korea.
On the 27th, the Ministry held the K-Tourism Roadshow in Qingdao, conducting a 'Travel Mart' and business consultation meetings (B2B) aimed at Chinese group tourists.
The Shandong Province, where Qingdao is located, is a region with a high preference for group tours. The K-Tourism Roadshow saw participation from 8 local governments, 25 dedicated Chinese travel agencies, duty-free shops, airlines, theme parks, and 17 other organizations. They marketed Korean tourism to 100 institutions including local travel agencies, online travel platforms, cultural and arts associations, and sports clubs, while exploring cooperation plans between the Korean and Chinese travel industries.
At this event, five local governments and regional tourism organizations including Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, Gyeonggi Tourism Organization, Daegu Metropolitan City Tourism Association, Busan Tourism Organization, and Seoul Tourism Foundation introduced tourism content programs linking various themes and regions such as marine leisure and sports, edutainment, and festivals, and exchanged with local travel agencies. Domestic local governments and organizations held business consultations with the Chinese tourism industry, achieving 574 consultation outcomes.
Subsequently, from the 29th to the 31st, the Ministry held a K-Tourism marketing event targeting Chinese consumers at a shopping mall in Guangzhou. Guangzhou is a region that prefers individual travel and has a large scale of consumer spending. At the Guangzhou event, customized products for the youth (MZ) generation linked to K-content such as idol groups SEVENTEEN and NCT, beauty, gourmet food, and characters were showcased.
Among the 2 million Chinese tourists who visited Korea last year, 38.3% (770,000) were under the age of 30, an increase of 8.8 percentage points compared to 10 years ago, indicating a growing proportion of young generation visitors to Korea.
Park Jong-taek, Director of Tourism Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, "As the Chinese outbound travel market is shifting towards the younger generation and cultural experiences, we plan to diversify special purpose and individual tourism products," adding, "We will also strengthen crackdowns on low-cost dumping tourism and forced sales, and improve laws and systems."
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