Chinese visitor spending Korea has recovered from the a low point during the MERS scare and is showing strong growth once again, according to Daiwa Capital Market’s latest report.
Historical district of Seoul
A total of 650,174 Chinese tourists visited Korea in October, up 15.6% y-o-y. This is the first time Chinese visitor arrivals to Korea had double-digit monthly growth since the MERS scare in May.
“The MERS scare diverted a large number of Chinese tourists from Korea to Japan. However, this trend began to reverse in September,” analyst Iris Park said. “Spending on duty-free products by foreign visitors, which accounts for around 20% of Korea’s total national retail sales, was on the upswing again in October, when duty-free sales grew 5.7% y-o-y with the return of Chinese visitors, according to the Korean National Duty Free Association,” she said.
The report also says that the travel behavior of Chinese tourists is changing, as favorite destination Paris is marred by terrorist attacks and other major European destinations are on high alert as a result.(Translation by David)
