'K-Beauty' and 'Dubai Chocolate' Popular... "11% Payment Rate for 'K-Beauty' Among Visitors to Korea"

Visa Releases Global Travel Insights
One in Five Tourists from Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, and Indonesia Purchase K-Beauty Products in Korea

A survey revealed that specialty products such as 'K-Beauty' and 'Dubai chocolate' influence travel destination choices. Among tourists visiting Korea who hold Visa cards, about one in ten made purchases at domestic offline cosmetics and skincare stores. For travelers from Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, the ratio was one in five.

Visa announced the 'Global Travel Insights' report containing these findings on the 17th. It stated that products like 'K-Beauty' and Dubai chocolate are highly popular.

In the fourth quarter of last year, an average of 11% of foreign tourists visiting Korea with Visa cards purchased and paid for products at offline cosmetics and skincare stores in Korea. This was about 1.6 percentage points higher than the 9.4% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Travelers from Saudi Arabia (22%), the Philippines (21%), and Indonesia (20%) had the highest payment proportions. They were followed by Malaysia (19%), Singapore (18%), Poland (18%), the United Arab Emirates (17%), and Japan (14%).

The Dubai chocolate bar brand conducted limited-quantity sales twice daily through the delivery app 'Deliveroo.' The main transaction times on the delivery app also changed. Unlike the previous pattern where transactions were concentrated during lunch and dinner times, transaction volumes surged at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., the Dubai chocolate sales hours.

The average transaction amount doubled at 2 p.m. compared to the previous average and increased by 1.6 times at 5 p.m. This indicates that purchasing chocolate bars led to additional consumption.

Countries with a high number of chocolate bar payment transactions included the United Kingdom, the United States, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Although Visa cardholders from Singapore, Korea, and Armenia did not frequently use Deliveroo, their consumption during the chocolate bar sales hours surged.

Visa expects that the trend of purchasing specific products at travel destinations or planning trips for this purpose will influence marketing and promotions not only in the global travel industry but also in the finance and retail sectors.

In particular, Generation Z (born in the late 1990s to early 2010s) is expected to lead this trend.

Generation Z is projected to account for 30% of all travelers by 2030.

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