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Foreign tourists' engagement with K-beauty is moving well beyond shopping, expanding into hands-on experiences and small businesses across the country and broadening the base of South Korea's tourism ecosystem.

Global travel platform Klook said Tuesday that traffic from foreign users in its domestic beauty category rose 46 percent year-on-year from Jan. 1 through Aug. 15. Growth held steady throughout the period, with the first and second quarters posting increases of 41.1 percent and 48.5 percent, respectively.

The United States ranked first in product bookings, followed by Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Interest from Western markets — including the US, Australia and Europe — climbed 72 percent compared with the same period last year.

The most popular K-beauty product was a personal color diagnosis and makeup session offered by Colorize. Other top performers included the O Hui & Whoo Spa in Myeong-dong, the Myeong-dong Beauty Sky View Spa, a makeup, hair and personal color consultation by Cocorea, and a K-beauty makeup class by Jung Saem Mool — reflecting strong demand for personal color analysis and hands-on makeup experiences.

The range of K-beauty experiences drawing foreign visitors has also widened. Interest now extends from skincare and traditional Korean body scrubs to custom eyewear, styling and personal cosmetics shopping assistance. Notable offerings include a whipped cleanser-making workshop at Whipped House in Seongsu, a traditional Korean scrub experience at Seian Spa, and a discount voucher for glasses and sunglasses at optical shop Optic Life.

Klook is expanding touchpoints with global customers to ensure K-beauty's growth translates into opportunities for small domestic businesses. The company aims to spread growth across diverse partners rather than concentrating it among specific brands, regions or sectors, contributing to the globalization of K-beauty.

More than 95 percent of the partners selling beauty products to foreign visitors on Klook are small businesses. Their offerings include a Seoul Seongsu style tour run by a styling startup founded by fashion students, a head spa called Saekdam near Yeouido Station — away from the usual tourist clusters — and a personal color diagnosis and image branding service in Gwangalli, Busan.

Klook supports these businesses by listing their products in multiple languages, offering diverse payment options to improve accessibility for overseas visitors, and promoting their offerings through global marketing channels.

K-beauty products outside Seoul are also gaining traction. Busan recorded a 576 percent surge in traffic compared with the same period last year, the highest among all non-Seoul regions. In Jeju, traffic rose 281.3 percent in Jeju city and 205.4 percent in Seogwipo, while Daegu and North Jeolla Province posted gains of 77.5 percent and 51.3 percent, respectively — signaling that beauty demand is spreading across the country.

"For K-beauty to sustain its growth in the global market, it is important to create an environment where opportunities extend beyond well-known brands and products to small businesses in diverse regions and fields," said Lee Jun-ho, Klook's Korea country manager. "As a global travel platform connecting international travelers with domestic partners, we will continue to support competitive K-beauty products in reaching more overseas customers and work toward building a more diverse and healthy ecosystem."


terry@heraldcorp.com