Travel Deficit

[Anchor Lead]

Korea's tourism sector has recorded yet another massive travel deficit. While a growing number of Koreans travel overseas for their holidays, the number of foreign tourists visiting Korea has shrunk. The number of Chinese tourists has been depressed due to the row over the installation of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system.

[Pkg]

This is Incheon International Airport in late July. It is packed with Koreans leaving for other countries to spend their summer vacation. On July 30, the number of outbound travelers at the airport reached nearly 110,000, the highest on record. Although more and more Koreans travel overseas these days, the number of foreigners visiting Korea keeps declining. As a result, the number of outbound travelers was double the number of inbound travelers in the month of July. Because of the conflict between Korea and China over the THAAD U.S. missile defense system, the number of Chinese tourists, including those who visit Korea on group tours, plunged nearly 70 percent from the corresponding period a year ago. Foreign tourists also spend less during their stay in Korea, with three out of five major duty free shops in the country unable to avoid deficits.

[Soundbite] Duty Free Shop Staff(Voice modified) : "Chinese group tourists used to account for half of our sales revenues, but they no longer come on group tours, which means a sharp drop in revenues for us."

As such, the travel deficit in Korea keeps growing, and was estimated at 1.79 billion dollars in July, the largest to date. Increased spending by Korean tourists traveling abroad is another factor. Koreans were found to have spent 2.76 billion dollars overseas in July, the second largest amount on record. The situation is unlikely to improve anytime soon. Scores of Koreans spent their vacation overseas in the month of August as well. The travel deficit is expected to intensify even further during the upcoming ten-day Chuseok holiday period.