WEF Travel and Tourism Development Index analysis

Digital demand and transport networks rank among world's best

Mobility convenience and platform use near the top globally

High-wage tourism jobs rank 109th out of 110 countries

Hotel and short-term rental supply severely lacking

Government tourism spending share still in lower tier

[Image generated with AI]
[Image generated with AI]

South Korea ranked 109th out of 110 countries in the share of high-wage tourism jobs and 76th in government tourism spending as a share of total expenditure, according to the World Economic Forum's latest Travel and Tourism Development Index. Analysts say the country's failure to shore up workforce compensation and policy funding is limiting its potential for qualitative growth in the sector.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute said South Korea placed 12th overall in the WEF's 2025 Travel and Tourism Development Index. A deep-dive analysis of 45 core tourism indicators directly tied to the industry found that 24 — covering digital infrastructure, transport and intangible cultural heritage — exceeded the average of the world's top 10 tourism nations, while 19 indicators, including job quality and accommodation infrastructure, fell below that average.

According to the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute's analysis, South Korea's average score across the 45 tourism indicators was 4.72 on a normalized scale of 1 to 7, just 0.13 points behind the top-10 country average of 4.85. That gap is notably smaller than the 0.34-point difference recorded on 57 general indicators — covering labor markets, the environment and institutional frameworks — suggesting South Korea is close to the top tier in practical tourism performance.

Areas of strength included digital demand, transport infrastructure and cultural resources. Five indicators received a perfect score of 7: non-leisure tourism digital demand, which tracks global online searches related to business, education and medical tourism; the number of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage designations; the number of UNESCO Creative Cities; the timeliness of monthly and quarterly tourism statistics; and the tourism employment multiplier.

Transport convenience and digital platform use also drove high rankings. Key mobility indicators performed at leading-nation levels — public transport service efficiency (6.37), railway service efficiency (6.16), air transport service efficiency (6.13) and road quality (5.99). Gender balance in tourism employment (6.70), digital platform use for accommodation, food and leisure services (6.07) and passport mobility score (5.94) all exceeded the top-10 country average.

[Image generated with AI]
[Image generated with AI]

Job quality, however, remained near the bottom. The share of high-wage jobs in the tourism industry — a measure of worker compensation — ranked 109th out of 110 countries with a score of 1.15, less than half the top-10 average of 2.45. While the tourism employment multiplier ranked fifth (7.00), indicating a strong job-creation effect, the pay attached to those jobs remains poor. Labor productivity in the accommodation and food service sector, measured by value added per worker, also scored just 2.42 (69th), roughly half the leading-nation average of 5.22.

Accommodation infrastructure for inbound tourists was equally weak. The number of short-term rental units per 10,000 people scored 1.83 (59th), well below the top-10 average of 4.18, while hotel rooms per 100 people scored 2.10 (69th) — again about half the leading-nation average of 4.52. Analysts note that while interest in visiting South Korea has surged on the back of K-content and growing business demand, a shortage of rooms is constraining visitor spending.

Policy funding for the tourism industry also lagged. Tourism spending as a share of total government consumption expenditure scored 2.46 (76th), far short of the top-10 average of 3.62. With national policy prioritization and actual fiscal commitment both in the lower tier, South Korea's ranking in tourism policy and enabling conditions — one of five major assessment categories — came in last among the five at 47th. Experts say the government needs to significantly increase tourism funding to address the challenges facing an industry widely seen as a future growth engine.

Other indicators that fell short of the top-10 average included the number of UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites (2.60), natural tourism digital demand — global online searches related to beaches, national parks and similar destinations — (2.72), the number of air service agreements governing route expansion (3.02) and the geographic dispersion of tourism across regions (3.55).

The Korea Culture and Tourism Institute said the relatively large gap with top-10 countries on general indicators such as labor markets, the environment and institutional frameworks could constrain further improvement in the overall index. It recommended that policymakers prioritize areas where targeted action is feasible, including tourism financing, air connectivity, accommodation supply and the quality of tourism jobs.


terry@heraldcorp.com