Independent Travelers

[Anchor Lead]

A record number of foreign tourists, including those from China, visited Korea this year. This is believed to be due to the steady rise of individual tourists over group travelers. Here’s more.

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A Japanese woman who arrived at Gimpo International Airport on Tuesday afternoon is the 17 millionth foreign tourist to visit Korea this year.

[Soundbite] Japanese Tourist : "I came to Korea with co-workers to enjoy the country. I'm planning to shop and watch performances."

A record number of foreign tourists came to Korea in 2016. The figure has been on a steady rise since standing at just over 2 million in 1989. The rise took a hit last year amid the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. But foreign tourist numbers successfully rebounded this year and posted growth of 28.5 percent. It was the Chinese who led this growth. The number of Chinese tourists surged 34 percent this year to top 8 million for the very first time.

[Soundbite] Yun Yang-soo(Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism) : "Our goal is to draw around 20 million foreign tourists by 2018 with the aim of boosting domestic demand and revitalizing the economy."

The remaining task is how to convert the growth in numbers into qualitative growth. It remains to be seen whether measures such as creating a new Hallyu visa exclusively for Chinese tourists and efforts to attract more Muslim visitors will bear fruit in the coming years.