Seoul's 'ambitious' tourism goals colliding with reality

A dearth of foreign tourists is pouring cold water on Seoul Metropolitan Government’s ambitious goal of drawing 30 million overseas visitors by 2026.

Foreign tourists in hanbok walk around the Blue House in central Seoul. [NEWS1]

A dearth of foreign tourists is pouring cold water on Seoul’s ambitious goal of drawing 30 million overseas visitors by 2026.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government rolled out its plan to revive tourism to Seoul in February.

The plan includes festivals and events like the 2023 Seoul Festa and creating tourism content for overseas tourists.

Even Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon referred to the metropolitan government’s goal as “ambitious” and an “aggressive target” during an opening ceremony of the Seoul International Travel Mart at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza on June 21.

Oh added that the goal may be “more ambitious than that of the central government and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.”

Critics say Seoul's goal is overly ambitious given the glacial pace at which foreign tourism to the city has recovered so far.

According to the Seoul Tourism Organization, the number of foreign tourists who visited Seoul from January to April this year amounted to 2.6 million, less than half of the total during the same period in 2019.

Reaching the city's target will require a tenfold increase from the mere 3.19 million foreign tourists who visited last year.

Experts say Seoul should target people in more countries to increase tourism.

According to the Korea Tourism Organization, Chinese nationals accounted for 30 to 35 percent of foreign visitors as of 2019. This plunged to 5 percent last year.

“To attract 30 million incoming overseas travelers, the countries where tourists come from should expand beyond China to others, such as Japan and East Asian countries,” said Kil Ki-yon, head of the Seoul Tourism Organization.

Korea's strict arrival procedures also discourage tourism.

The Korean government does not include Thailand or Malaysia on the list of countries exempt from the Korea Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA). The K-ETA is an electronic verification procedure required by nationals who can enter Korea visa-free.

“Local government policies to attract foreign tourists will be effective only if the government relaxes its restrictions,” said a spokesperson for the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

A foreign tourist relaxes at the Han River Park in Yeouido, western Seoul. [NEWS1]

Bringing in 30 million foreign tourists could lead to more problems as the city lacks accommodation facilities.

"Only 30,000 of Seoul's 59,000 accommodations remain when accommodations for local travelers are excluded," said Jeong Ran-soo, the CEO of Project Soo, a tourism consulting company.

“Around 58,000 accommodations are needed if 30 million tourists visit the country.”

Some other experts stressed the need for local governments to cooperate in drawing up efficient measures to revive tourism.

For instance, a tourism package that lets tourists stay in nearby Gyeonggi and Incheon and sightsee in Seoul could resolve the accommodation issue.

“There is a need to improve tourism infrastructure and come up with policies to increase the added value of tourism,” said Cho A-ra, a researcher at Korea Culture & Tourism Institute.

BY MOON HEE-CHUL, CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]