Visitor count up 20.8% from a year earlier, 5.2% from June

July card spending by tourists jumps 70% to 1.07 trillion won

Cumulative visitors from January to July reach 9.83 million

Foreign tourists carry shopping bags along Myeong-dong in Seoul. About 8.23 million foreign visitors came to Seoul in the first half of this year, up more than 20 percent from the same period last year, and their credit card spending in the city surged more than 50 percent to 5.62 trillion won. A Seoul Metropolitan Government official said both tourist numbers and spending set all-time records in the first half of this year.
Foreign tourists carry shopping bags along Myeong-dong in Seoul. About 8.23 million foreign visitors came to Seoul in the first half of this year, up more than 20 percent from the same period last year, and their credit card spending in the city surged more than 50 percent to 5.62 trillion won. A Seoul Metropolitan Government official said both tourist numbers and spending set all-time records in the first half of this year.

Seoul set an all-time monthly record for foreign tourist arrivals in July, with about 1.61 million visitors, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Thursday. Tourist spending has now exceeded 1 trillion won ($723 million) for four consecutive months, reflecting both quantitative and qualitative growth, the city said.

The most striking figure was the surge in tourist spending. Foreign visitors' card expenditures in July reached 1.07 trillion won, a 69.7 percent jump from the same month last year.

Spending has topped 1 trillion won every month since April, when it crossed that threshold for the first time. Cumulative spending from January through July reached 6.69 trillion won.

The spending mix is also broadening beyond shopping to include medical and wellness services, dining and beauty. By sector, shopping accounted for the largest share at 46.4 percent of spending from January to July, followed by medical and wellness at 24.4 percent and food and beverage at 13.1 percent. Medical tourism and general dining showed particularly strong growth.

Visitor numbers from Seoul's key source markets also grew broadly. China led all countries in July with 600,000 visitors, or 37.1 percent of the total, followed by Japan with 250,000 (15.8 percent), Taiwan with 200,000 (12.4 percent) and the United States with 120,000 (7.2 percent). Cumulative arrivals from January through July totaled about 9.83 million, up 21.3 percent from about 8.11 million in the same period last year.

Seoul said it aims to go beyond simply increasing visitor numbers by extending average stays, raising per-visitor spending and improving return-visit rates. To that end, the city plans to expand high-value tourism offerings in medical and wellness, dining and beauty, and to link tourist attractions across neighborhoods with nighttime tourism programs so visitors can experience the city from morning through night and stay longer.

The city is currently pursuing its "Seoul Tourism 3·3·7·7" policy, which targets 30 million foreign tourists annually, per-visitor spending of 3 million won, an average stay of seven days and a return-visit rate of 70 percent.

"Foreign tourist arrivals in Seoul have been consistently rising, and July marked an all-time monthly record, showing that Seoul's tourism growth momentum continues," said Jo Seong-ho, director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Tourism and Sports Bureau. "We will now look beyond visitor numbers and expand attractive tourism content and nighttime tourism to make Seoul a city where visitors stay longer, experience more and want to come back."


ikson@heraldcorp.com