HAN20090165

INDIVISUAL ASSIGNMENT
KOREA’S CURRENT TOURISM STATUS –
ANALYSE MANAGEMENT AND
DEVELOPEMENT REPORT
HAN20090165- 2010TM
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CONTENT TABLE

1, Introduction
2, Definition
3, Statistic and Analyse Inbound Tourism
4, Analyse
5, Conclusion
6, References

1, Introduction:
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South Korea is a country of tourism that has sprung up in the last ten years. From around the
2010s onwards, Korea recorded a spike in the revenue of tourism. South Korea tourism is known
for its unique landscapes and cultural monuments, but still accompanies the development of the
world. Apart from the traditional culture and the landscape, the feature that made South Korea
stood out in the tourism market is a cultural wave “Hallyu”.Not only the culture or landscape but
a big wave that has given Korea one step into paradise called the Hallyu wave which is also
known as the K-pop generation. This article will  give an overview, discussion and analysis on
South Korea's inbound tourism.
 
2, Definition

“Tourism demand refers to the willingness and ability of consumers to buy different amounts of
a tourism product at different prices during some period of time. Tourism demand lies at the
heart of tourism’s economic contribution and economic impacts as it is the associated
expenditure that determines its economic effects. “(Dwayer5, 2010). According to World
Tourism Organization, “inbound tourism” is the activities of travelers outside their standard
environment for less than one continuous year and more than 24 hours which the purpose is for
relaxation, business, forperment work or acquiring money (Manual on Accessible Tourism for
All: Principles, Tools and Best Practices, 2021). Therefore, the demand of inbound tourism in
South Korea is the tourism demand of foreign tourists entering South Korea and South Koreans,
bringing revenue for South Korean tourism in foreign currencies. 

3, Statistic and analyse

Source: (South Korea Tourism Revenue, n.d.)

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According to the World Bank, South Korea ranked 28th globally in the number of arrivals
(International tourism, number of arrivals | Data, n.d.). The table of Trading economics of South
Korea’s tourism indicates that starting from the 2010s, Korean tourism has skyrocketed and
become an established tourist destination. This massive development may have occurred in the
2000s, when the Korean culture made a great influence on the world, with its products of the
entertainment industry. The cultural sensation was named "Hallyu" by the Chinese journalists,
also known as "the Korean wave" and has attracted the attention of the entire Asian population.
A few years later, this trend gradually spread to the rest of the world and brought Korea a large
number of tourists (Hallyu Wave: How It All Started, 2017). After a massive jump in 2016,
South Korea’s Tourism increased significantly each year. However, It wasn't until five years
later that another peak returned. This time Korea became a global phenomenon, offering the
world more than just entertainment products and made its name in the fields of fashion, beauty
products and the indispensable aspect of Medical tourism.

Source: (Number of inbound visitors to South Korea from 2000 to 2019 (in millions), 2021)
 
According to Ibid, in 2012, the number of visitors had grown by 13.7% after the Hallyu waves
arrived. K-Pop culture encouraged fans to travel see this country, experience the culture that
shaped their favorite artists for themselves (kulkarni, n.d.). In the period of 2010s, Hallyu has
been worldwide famous, K-pop idol groups had fans from every country chanting their names
and singing their songs, which enhanced the fascination people had for the culture. Most of the
travel demand was affected by large groups of foreign fans flying in for music concerts or award
events. Moreover, Korean dramas which document the beautiful nature scenery and the unique
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culture have attracted even more tourists. Understanding the great influence of that wave, the
government invested a lot in the entertainment sector. The International Trade Administration
said that the government considers the Entertainment and Media industry as a vital driver for
their future public economy (South Korea - Entertainment and Media, 2020). According to the
statistics report of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) in 2019, from 2016 to 2017, their total
market size had almost doubled and then continued to fluctuate in the following years. However,
the administrational contribution is not to change the substance but to enhance the visibility of it,
thus, they bring out news reports, positive stories about Koreans and their prosperity (Trolan,
2017). As a result, in 2016, the number of Visitor Arrivals in South Korea dramatically rose to
the highest level ever recorded in Korea, which was a growth of more than 30% in just one year
(Statistic Arrivals & Departures by year, 2021). 
 

 
 Source : ([Review] That Winter, The Wind Blows Episode 16 (End), 2015)
Three years later, South Korea once again recorded a peak in domestic tourism demand before
the Covid-19 pandemic appeared and severely damaged the global tourism industry. Along with
the Entertainment industry, Medical Tourism is also one of the main reasons why Korea's
tourism is prospering. Different from the Entertainment industry, which targets the younger
audiences, Medical Tourism targets older customers who have higher incomes. In 2009, Korean
Medical Tourism offered services to around 60,000 clinical Tourists and six years later, the
absolute number of worldwide patients was 320,000 which is almost six times more than the
figure of 2009 (Kim, Arcodia and Kim, 2019). Moreover, in 2018 the Ministry of Health and
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Welfare (MOHW) showed that Korea received 380,000 medical patients, which was a 17,8%
increase from the previous year (Choi, n.d.)

Source: (South Korea Tourism Revenue, 2020)

Source: (South Korea Visiter Arrivals, n.d.)

2020 was the year of great volatility, and the Tourism industry was no exception. There was a
significant drop starting around February and March of 2020. The Covid epidemic was first
reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) in late December 2019 and early January
2020 in Wuhan. To date, there have been more than 100,000,000 reported cases worldwide and
more than 2,200,000 deaths (WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard, 2020). This is
a global pandemic, until the mass production and utilisation of vaccines, the best way to prevent
this disease is social distancing, which limits the traffic between all countries as well as any
human interactions without masks and in the distance of less than 2 meters (Advice for the public
on COVID-19 – World Health Organization, 2020). This interrupted most human activities and
replaced it with online exposure, which is a great hammer down to human life and the tourism
industry. Korea's Inbound Tourism suffered a significant damage, looking at the first two graphs,
South Korea Tourism Revenue Growth and South Korea Visitor Arrivals, one has a sharp
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decline in tourist arrivals in South Korea starting from February and March of 2020. While the
number of visitor arrivals has decreased from more than 1,400,000 arrivals/month to less than
100,000, the tourism revenue section shows that started from the beginning of February, revenue
fell to negative numbers.

4, Analyse

Korea has transformed dramatically in the tourism industry, with annual tourism revenue
increasing many times than before. Starting in 2010, when the Hallyu wave was born and
exploded, Korea has taken remarkable actions to promote and advertise about the tourism
industry. The past few years were the prime time in Korean tourism history until the COVID-19
pandemic appeared and negatively influenced global tourism. However, South Korea still has
weaknesses in tourism that need to be taken under consideration and modified. Firstly, the
overcharging tourists in the high season, the prices can be multiplied many times to make a
profit. In 2016, in Courtesy of the presidential Blue House, the president at that time had to speak
up about overcharging Chinese tourists. This situation often occurs in tourist hot-spots and in the
peak tourist seasons like summer. Another weakness in Korean tourism that most foreign tourists
complain about is the language barrier; tourist destinations outside major cities allows few ways
to communicate between service providers and customers. Despite having to put the travel
business on hold, this is an opportunity for South Korea to spend time addressing these
problems. During the quarantine period, the country can recover natural tourism sites that have
deteriorated due to overexploitation, as well as forming a better overview of the tourism industry
in the future. One thing that should also be worried about is how South Korea Tourism depends
heavily on Chinese and Japanese arrivals. According to KTO data, the number of Japanese
tourists to Korea in November 2020 was 406,668 tours out of a total of 1,372,872 tours of that
month, i.e. 29.3% and Chinese tourists 450,043 tours which accounted for 32.4%. This means
that if the number of tourists in either of these countries drops for some objective reason, the
risks for the Korean tourism industry will be immeasurable.

5, Conclusion

Korea has an unique culture which was sustained by preserving and cherishing the precious
traditions successfully combined with tourism to turn its long-standing culture into collective
points of tourist attraction.he Korean culture itself is very diverse and the way they respectfully
preserve but constantly develop it is what attracts tourists to visit Korea. From the Hallyu wave
to Medical tourism as the two main attractions to the natural sights, well preserved and
celebrated ancient culture are what a tourist is looking for in Korea. The Hallyu culture, the
Medical tourism, the natural sights and the ancient culture are what tourists are looking for in
Korea.
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Word count: 1400 words ( not included intext citation, references, content table, report’s name
and headings)

6, References

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4601/16/24/4964> [Accessed 30 January 2021].
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kulkarni, R., n.d. How Korean Entertainment Industry Affects The Tourism In South Korea?
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<https://kto.visitkorea.or.kr/eng/tourismStatics/keyFacts/KoreaMonthlyStatistics/eng/inout/inout.
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