SEOUL, May 31 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of foreign visitors to South Korea surged by nearly 140 percent last month, a public corporation said Monday, attributing the explosive growth to a COVID-19-induced base effect. In April, 70,112 foreign nationals arrived here, up 138.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the government-invested Korea Tourism [...]
SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans’ overseas card spending dropped 28.8 percent on-year in the first quarter, due to a sharp decline in the number of outbound travelers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Sunday. The amount of money spent overseas by South Koreans with cards, including credit and debit cards, [...]
SEOUL, May 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The value of overseas direct purchases reached an all-time high in the first quarter of this year. As overseas travel remains restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, local consumers purchased more through overseas direct purchase websites. The value of overseas direct purchase stood at 1.41 trillion won (US$1.26 billion) [...]
SEOUL, May 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Retail sales in South Korea shot up 13.7 percent on-year in April on the back of an economic recovery amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers reached 12.3 trillion won (US$11 billion) last month, up from 10.8 trillion [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of tourist hotels in Seoul decreased for the first time last year due to the outbreaks of COVID-19, government data showed Wednesday. As of the end of 2020, there were 331 tourist hotels in Seoul, down two from a year ago, according to the data from the [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday it will run some of its shops in South Korea clerkless during nighttime as the home appliance maker tries to attract more consumers amid the pandemic-induced contactless trend. LG said its nine stores, including six shops in Seoul, will operate without clerks from 8:30 [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Large companies in South Korea cut their workforce nearly 1 percent in 2020 from a year earlier in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. According to CEO Score, 309 out of the country’s top 500 corporations had a combined headcount of 1,203,835 as of [...]
SEOUL, May 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Amid the raging coronavirus pandemic, teenagers have turned out to receive most stress from ‘anger towards others’. The state-run Korea Youth Counseling and Welfare Institute conducted an online survey of 862 teenagers and young adults between 9 and 24 years of age, in which ‘anger towards others’ scored 3.76 [...]
SEOUL, May 25 (Korea Bizwire) — About 1 in 3 young South Koreans picked the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic as the biggest source of social anxiety last year, a poll showed Tuesday. The survey by Statistics Korea showed 32.2 percent of Koreans aged between 13 and 24 said they viewed the outbreak of the pandemic [...]
SEOUL, May 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The government is on track to make it easier for commercial tenants who shut down their business due to the COVID-19 pandemic to cancel their rent contracts. The Ministry of Justice issued an advance legislation notice concerning a revision of the Commercial Building Tenant Protection Act. The revision stipulates [...]