SEOUL (ANN/THE KOREA HERALD) – South Korea announced a comprehensive plan on Monday to enhance the experience for foreign tourists, aiming to streamline entry procedures and offer diverse tourist programmes. These measures are designed to tackle the slow recovery of tourism revenue, despite a rapid increase in tourist numbers.
According to the Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO), 4.86 million foreign tourists visited South Korea in the first four months of the year, nearing 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. However, tourism revenue during this period was only 70 per cent of 2019 levels.
The government’s ambitious targets include attracting 30 million tourists by 2027 and generating USD30 billion in revenue. For this year, the goal is to draw 20 million foreign tourists, aiming to surpass the 2019 record of 17.5 million.
The slow revenue recovery is attributed to a shift from group to individual travel and from shopping-focused to cultural experience-centred tourism, resulting in lower spending. Additionally, the average length of international tourist trips has decreased from 7.2 days in 2018 to 6.5 days in early 2023.
To address these challenges, the government plans to expand visa application centres and increase visa processing personnel to reduce issuance times; improve electronic travel authorisation (K-ETA) applications with batch processing and introduce passport automatic recognition technology; and enhance multilingual services and add document submission features.
A “K-Culture Training Visa” trial will begin this year for foreign nationals seeking professional training in Korean culture, while a “Region-Specific Digital Nomad Visa” is under consideration for remote workers.
To boost tourism outside Seoul, the government will improve railway and rental car convenience and support local tourism programmes linked to K-content, such as a K-pop World Festival in Changwon and tours of “Crash Landing on You” filming locations in Pocheon and Incheon.
Enhancements to the high-speed rail reservation system will include multilingual services and seat selection functions. Rental car companies will receive information on international driving permits to facilitate rentals for tourists.
To address labour shortages in tourist-area restaurants, the scope for foreign employment permits (E-9) will be expanded based on a pilot project evaluation.
The government will also train more multilingual tour guides, particularly for tourists from Southeast Asia. These measures are set to be implemented in the second half of this year.
