"Foreign Tourists from March to June at 1% Compared to Last Year... 120,000 Jobs Lost"

"Policies Needed to Enhance the Effectiveness of Employment Retention Subsidies and Revitalize Industry"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] An analysis revealed that 119,000 jobs disappeared due to a sharp decline in foreign tourists caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

On the 15th, the Korea Economic Research Institute announced that based on statistics from March to June 2020, when foreign tourists sharply decreased due to the spread of COVID-19, the number of foreign tourists this year dropped to 1/100 of the same period last year, resulting in a decrease of 119,000 direct and indirect jobs related to the tourism industry.

The Korea Economic Research Institute explained that during the four-month analysis period from March to June 2020, the number of foreign tourists was 52,487, a 99% decrease compared to 5,105,686 in the same period the previous year. Accordingly, the employment inducement in the domestic tourism industry during this period is estimated to have decreased by 119,000 people.

By major industry, the decrease in employment inducement was analyzed as follows: ▲ Wholesale and retail trade and goods brokerage services 60,009 ▲ Accommodation services 25,805 ▲ Restaurants and pubs 22,782.

Additionally, due to the sharp decline in foreign tourists visiting Korea during the same period, the production inducement amount in the domestic tourism industry decreased by 13.2 trillion won, and the value-added inducement amount decreased by 6.1 trillion won compared to the same period last year.

By major industry, the decrease in production inducement amount was ▲ Wholesale and retail trade and goods brokerage services 6.2 trillion won ▲ Accommodation services 3.1 trillion won ▲ Restaurants and pubs 2.5 trillion won, and the value-added inducement amount was ▲ Wholesale and retail trade and goods brokerage services 3 trillion won ▲ Accommodation services 1.5 trillion won ▲ Restaurants and pubs 900 billion won.

Choo Kwang-ho, Director of Economic Policy at the Korea Economic Research Institute, stated, “Employment retention subsidies are essential policies to overcome the current employment crisis, but their effectiveness is reduced due to conditions that do not fit the industry's reality. As the capacity of companies to maintain employment continues to decrease due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation, policies that can enhance the effectiveness of employment retention subsidies and revitalize the industry are urgently needed.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.