Japanese tourism up 61% in 1st quarter
Apr 15,2009
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| Japanese tourists shop for cosmetics yesterday at a duty-free shop in Gwanghwamun,central Seoul yesterday. By Kim Sang-seon |
The number of Japanese tourists visiting Korea exploded in the first quarter due to the plummeting of the Korean won against the Japanese yen.
Statistics released yesterday by the Justice Ministry’s Korea Immigration Service Bureau showed that the number of tourists from the neighboring country increased by 61 percent during the first quarter of this year compared to the same time period a year earlier. The number of Japanese coming in rose to 855,448, up 324,041 compared to last year.
Overall, the number of incoming tourists also surged.
The number of visitors totaled 2,012,508, including airline crews, between January and March. It is the first quarter ever in which the figure exceeded two million. It is also a 25 percent increase over last year, which saw the highest numbers since 1980.
“We believe the strong yen and other foreign currencies caused more tourists to visit Seoul. Simplified immigration procedures for tourist groups entering the country also led to a rise in the number,” explained an official, who asked not to be named.
Japanese accounted for the largest portion of visitors, at 47.7 percent. Tourists from China, the United States, Taiwan and Hong Kong followed with 17.1, 8.0, 5.8 and 2.9 percent, respectively.
A Japanese woman who was visiting Seoul for the third time, said, “Because of the strong yen and short distance, I have toured the country several times to buy relatively cheap products for my children.”
One woman who runs a cosmetics shop in Myeong-dong, downtown Seoul, labeled all her products in Japanese two months ago. “A lot of Japanese shop at my store with lists of Korean makeup goods,” she said.
Those who came to Seoul simply for tourism accounted for 70.5 percent of visitors. The total was more than 1.4 million.
Around 10,000 more foreigners came to Korea for the purpose of studying than in the first quarter last year.
However, the portion of people visiting Seoul for investment purposes in the first quarter plunged 19.2 percent on-year due to the global economic slump.
In the same period, more than 2,340,000 Koreans left the country, a 33.4 percent decline from last year, .
By Park Yu-mi, Kim Jeen-kyung [smartpower@joongang.co.kr]