"The Trend May Be Korea, But Japan Is Still Far Ahead: Tourism Revenue Gap Is Threefold"

Tourism Revenue Gap Exceeds Threefold
"Targeted Marketing Needed for Each Market"

On the 29th of last month, Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul was bustling with foreign tourists. Photo by Kang Jinhyung

Last year, the number of foreign tourists visiting Korea increased, driven by the popularity of K-pop and other cultural phenomena. However, the figure was found to be less than half of Japan's. In particular, the gap in tourism revenue was more than threefold, prompting growing calls to diversify Korea's tourism market.

According to data submitted by the Korea Tourism Organization to Assemblywoman Lim Ohkyung, the ruling party secretary of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, the number of international tourists who visited Korea last year was 16.37 million. This is less than half of the number who visited Japan (36.87 million) during the same period.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Japan attracted the highest number of tourists, followed by Thailand (35.55 million), Saudi Arabia (29.73 million), Malaysia (25.02 million), Hong Kong (21.94 million), Vietnam (17.47 million), and Korea (16.37 million).

The gap in tourism revenue was even more pronounced. While Japan recorded $54.7 billion (approximately 77.6904 trillion won) in tourism income, Korea remained at just $16.4 billion (about 23.2929 trillion won), less than one-third of Japan's figure. Within the Asia-Pacific region, Korea ranked 12th in tourism revenue.

Last year, the total number of international tourists worldwide was 1.46498 billion (provisional), up 12.2% from the previous year. France was the most visited country in the world, attracting 120 million tourists, followed by Spain (93.76 million), the United States (72.39 million), T?rkiye (60.58 million), and Italy (57.73 million).

In terms of tourism revenue, the United States ranked first with $215 billion (about 305.3645 trillion won), followed by Spain with $106.5 billion (about 151.2619 trillion won), the United Kingdom with $84.5 billion (about 121.2936 trillion won), France with $77.1 billion (about 109.5051 trillion won), and Italy with $58.7 billion (about 83.3716 trillion won).

Assemblywoman Lim Ohkyung stated, "Last year, inbound (foreign) tourists increased by 48.4% compared to the previous year, but tourism revenue grew by only 9.2%," emphasizing, "It is necessary to strengthen market-specific targeted marketing in consideration of diversifying the tourism market."