Chinese tourists to Jeju show changed travel tendencies

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Chinese tourists to Jeju show changed travel tendencies

Published: 22 Nov. 2023, 17:15 Updated: 22 Nov. 2023, 18:02

YIM SEUNG-HYE
[email protected]

Chinese travelers wearing hanbok, or traditional Korean dress, visit Jeju-mok Government Office on Nov. 13 and take pictures in front of the tangerine trees that surround the area. [CHOI CHOONG-IL]

JEJU ISLAND — A small group of Chinese tourists in their 20s and 30s wearing hanbok (Korean traditional dress) were taking pictures at the Jeju-mok Government Office in Jeju City at around lunchtime on a Monday.

The office is the former central government of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). As it is a traditional Korean building surrounded by picturesque tangerine trees, it has recently become a tourist hotspot, especially among foreigners.

"I came here after seeing pictures of different Korean heritage sites posted on [China’s social media platform] Xiaohongshu,” said Wang Yirin, a 24-year-old visitor from Shanghai. “I wanted to walk around in royal palaces while wearing hanbok, but since I’m in Jeju, the Jeju-mok Government Office was the right place. I think it’s even more beautiful as it’s surrounded by citrus trees.”

She added that she had seen posts of Jeju’s Seopjikoji cape, Aewol Handam coast and its nearby cafes and restaurants on the Chinese platform, featured as popular destinations in Jeju.

Jeju Island has always been a popular destination for Chinese tourists, but the trend is changing, according to the Jeju Tourism Organization. If large, flagged tour groups on chartered buses filled with people in their mid-40s and 50s from China were major tourists in Jeju in the past, now individual travelers in their 20s and 30s are emerging as a major group.

Among the roughly 84,400 people who visited Jeju-mok Government Office from January to September this year, 29 percent were foreigners. Majority of these tourists were Chinese tourists in their 20s and 30s, according to Jeju Tourism Organization.

“On weekdays, approximately 30 to 40 Chinese tourists come to rent hanbok,” the owner of a hanbok rental store near Jeju-mok Government Office said. “On weekends, that number rises to 70 to 80 hanbok rentals per day. Most of them are young Chinese travelers.”

The Jeju Tourism Organization said this change in the trend has been evident post-Covid-19.

“Chinese tourists seem to be turning away from going on group tours and rather prefer to go on individual trips. In response to this change in the tourism trend, we are devising new marketing strategies,” an official from the organization said.

According to a report released by the Korea SMEs & Startups Institute in September, titled “Chinese Tourist Influx and Response Strategies for Small and Medium Enterprises” (translated), there are three characteristics of Chinese tourist consumption patterns that changed after Covid-19. One is that the younger generation, born after 1980, is leading the recent overseas travel trend. The other two are their preference for experience-centered travel and using mobile payment methods over cash.

“I spent about 1.8 million won [$1,400] with a friend from Shanghai during our four-day trip in Jeju,” said Shankar Tangjiaqi, a 25-year-old traveler from Beijing. “Nowadays, young Chinese travelers to Korea tend to have specific interests, which for me is going on a gourmet trip, stopping at nice restaurants in Korea.”

“The young Chinese generation immediately posts reviews on social media about any inconveniences they experience during their travels,” Noh Seok-joo, manager of global marketing at the Jeju Tourism Organization, said. “The travel industry must analyze and respond to these changed characteristics of Chinese tourists, compared to the past.”

BY CHOI CHOONG-IL [[email protected]]