The Return of Youkers: Tourism in Korea

written by 20811 Park So Yeon

The Chinese government has allowed group tours to Korea for the first time in about six years since they imposed the Korea Limitation Order. As a result, Korea’s representative tourist destinations are booming with Chinese tourists (Youkers).

Because of this, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, on September 10th, the number of Youkers visiting Korea reached 224,000 as of July, ranking first among foreign tourists visiting Korea every month. Youkers go around to famous places in Korea so it could be a way to revitalize Korea’s economy and tourism.

Jeju Island: Beautiful Natural Scenery

Jeju Island is the most popular place in Korea for Youkers.

According to the Tourism Industry, the Chinese announced that 53 Chinese cruise ships would make port on Jeju Island a day after the news of the resumption of Korean tourism, which is a sign that many Chinese will come to Korea.

Furthermore, according to Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, the number of weekly flights between Jeju and Hangzhou (杭州) will increase from four to seven. Jeju Island is also interested in Youke, hoping that tourism in Jeju, which had been stagnant, will recover.

There are various reasons why Chinese people visit Jeju Island the most. First of all, Jeju Island is close to China, so many Chinese can go there easily, and the airfare is also low.

In addition, Jeju Island is one of the most popular tourist attractions because the entire island is a huge tourist resource with many ocean views and scenery that can only be seen on Jeju Island.

Myeong-dong: Center of Shopping

Have you seen a huge crowd of Youkers when you went to Myeong-dong?

Myeong-dong is the second most famous attraction in Korea that many Chinese people visit. With the abandonment of the Korea Limitation Order and the increase in the number of Chinese group tourists, Myeong-dong stores are now expressing expectations for the consumption of Youke.

The reason why Youkers especially visit Myeong-dong is because of shopping. Shopping is the charm of visiting Korea for Youke. Among the many shopping lists, one of the things Youkers buy the most is road shop cosmetics.

In Myeong-dong, there are many types of road shop cosmetics and accessibility. Therefore, many Youkers bought cosmetics. As a result, cosmetics sales in Korea have largely increased and Korea’s most famous cosmetics road shop’s profits in August 2023 increased by 28% more than the previous record due to a sharp increase in foreign and online sales.

Will Youkers Be Beneficial for Korea?

The appearance of the Youkers not only made huge advantages in the tourism industry in Korea but also revitalized duty-free shop profits, which had fallen sharply due to COVID-19 and many other economic problems.

As a result, Korea’s stagnant economy can be further revitalized. Since it has been a long time since Chinese people entered Korea, a new marketing strategy that can attract Chinese people can emerge. It will contribute to improving the Korean environment to create a better tourism culture.

On the contrary, however, some say that China’s economic situation is bad now, so it is not certain whether sales in the industry will continuously recover to the previous level.