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Foreign tourist visits to Seoul from 2014-2016

Last year, more than 13.5 million foreign tourists visited Seoul, the largest number ever. The amount of money they spent on their trip to Seoul was close to the city’s annual budget.

Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on Jan. 24 that a total of 13.57 million foreign tourists visited Seoul in 2016. This was a new record, 18.8% higher than 2014 (11.42 million) and 30.3% higher than 2015 (10.41 million). During their trip to Seoul, these tourists are estimated to have spent a total of 26.7 trillion won, which is not far below Seoul‘s budget this year of 29.8 trillion won.

Based on these results, Seoul Metropolitan Government has set the goal of bringing in 17 million tourists this year. The city expects that drawing 17 million tourists would create 606,000 jobs. To accomplish this, the city is taking steps to attract people visiting Pyeongchang and tourists from Japan, China and emerging markets.

First, Seoul will be encouraging tourists already planning to visit Pyeongchang before the 2018 Winter Olympics to stop by Seoul. Toward this end, it will be launching a joint tourism marketing campaign with Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces. The campaign will kick off on Feb. 8 with the unveiling of a clock tower being built in Seoul Plaza that will count down the one year remaining until the Olympics. In October, with just 100 days left before the games, miniatures of the main stadiums will be installed in Seoul Plaza and Gwanghwamun Square. In December, an international snowboarding tournament will be held in central Seoul along with a Hallyu (Korean Wave) concert. Temporary tourism information centers will be installed at major locations, including Seoul Station, Yongsan Station and Cheongnyangni Station, which link Seoul and Pyeongchang.

In order to attract more tourists from China, the biggest source of tourists to Seoul, the city will be increasing its advertising with broadcasters across China. It plans to give Seoul more exposure by persuading popular Chinese entertainment programs to record shows in the city. Seoul will be expanding its marketing not only in Beijing, where the city is already well-known, but also in China’s interior, which is becoming more prosperous.

In order to attract tourists from China and Japan, Seoul will be increasing its “relational marketing” using already established channels of city diplomacy. It means to bolsters marketing efforts on the Internet and social media to match the increasing percentage of “sanke (散客),” as Chinese tourists traveling on their own are called. Winter activities are also being developed at halal restaurants targeting tourists from the Middle East and India.

The Seoul Tourism Promotion Foundation will also be launched in the second half of the year to oversee marketing for Seoul tourism. “While the political situation in Northeast Asia continues to be unstable, we managed to bring in the largest number of tourists ever last year. We‘re going to make the world interested in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics this year with the goal of attracting 20 million tourists in 2018,” said Ahn Jun-ho, director of Seoul’s bureau for tourism and sports.

By Won Nak-young, staff reporter

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