Korean tourism survey measures shopping spend

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Japanese group tourists visiting Korea spend an average $1,249 per person according to a Korea National Tourism Organization (KNTO) survey, details of which were released this week

Independent tourists, which accounted for 35% of the surveyed group, spend an average of $1,047 per head. The results came from a survey of 1,024 Japanese tourists travelling through Incheon International airport last month, KNTO said. These spending levels are approximately 30% down on the peak recorded in a similar 1997 survey.

According to the poll, Japanese group tourists spent an average $528 of his or her total travel expenditure on shopping. The tourists shopped mostly at airport duty-free shops (22.3% of the total) and well-known tourist street markets in Seoul such as Namdaemun Market (10.1%) and Dongdaemun Market (6.5%). KNTO said about 40% of those surveyed were female tourists in their 20s-30s, a group which has recently emerged as a major tourist group for Korea.

The number of foreign visitors to South Korea is expected to post a record high of 5.35m this year, helped by this summer's World Cup. Tourist numbers, which fell 4.4% year-on-year to 2.49m in the first half of 2002, started to rise again from July onwards. According to official figures growth in visitor numbers was 5.2% up in the July to September period and 16% up in October, with growth in visitors from Europe, the US and Australia. The country's tourism image and awareness has dramatically improved following the World Cup according to an Internet survey held in conjunction with the FIFA World Cup website earlier this year.