SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) – A total of 297,000 foreigners visited South Korea for medical purposes in 2015, up 11 percent from 267,000 a year ago, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday. Their medical expenditures jumped 20 percent on-year to 670 billion won (US$567.3 million), with one-third of the amount coming from [...]
SEOUL, May 23 (Korea Bizwire) – With an increasing number of Korean travelers preferring to vacation independently, travel agencies are broadening their offerings to adapt to the change in demand. As independent travellers are more prone to various forms of accidents, agencies are offering travel deals that are freer in terms of scheduling, but still [...]
SEOUL, May 23 (Korea Bizwire) – Nearly half of foreigners revisited South Korea last year, with the Japanese becoming the most frequent travelers to the nation, a survey by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism showed Monday. According to the 2015 survey conducted at major gateways on 12,900 visitors to the nation, 46.1 percent [...]
SEOUL, May 20 (Korea Bizwire) – More than 80 percent of Korean tourists reported feeling uncomfortable at nude beaches when travelling overseas. Expedia, an online travel agency, conducted a survey on 11,155 tourists from 24 countries to arrive at the conclusion. When asked for opinions regarding nude beaches, 81 percent of Korean tourists answered, ‘uncomfortable’, [...]
SEOUL, May 20 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea on Friday said it has started the construction of a “hallyu” park in line with its move to establish sustainable attractions to lure Asian tourists. K-Culture Valley, a cluster of various cultural facilities to be located in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, aims to promote the hallyu wave, which [...]
SEOUL, May 16 (Korea Bizwire) – Business hotels are springing up in and near Myeongdong, the shopping mecca of downtown Seoul, as hotel chains try to cater to a growing number of Chinese tourists who are switching from package tours to more independent trips to South Korea. Nearly 6 million Chinese travelers came to South Korea [...]
SEOUL, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) – Fried chicken with cold beer, also known as chimaek (a Korean abbreviation for fried chicken and beer), is one of Korea’s most popular food cultures. The pairing has also gained popularity in China through Korean movies and TV dramas. Chimaek is now an essential part of Korean tourism, and [...]
SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea is ramping up support for the travel industry by enhancing its tourism infrastructure and tightening regulations on low-quality package programs to help shore up its slowing economy, officials and experts said Monday. Helped by the popularity of Korean pop culture, the tourism industry has emerged as a prospective [...]
TAEBAEK, March 23 (Korea Bizwire) – The city of Taebaek is rising as a new tourist hotspot after it was revealed as one of the locations featured in the hit Korean drama ‘Descendants of the Sun’. According to city officials, many curious Koreans and travel agencies have been inquiring about travel to the region. The ‘Descendants [...]
SEJONG, March 22 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent survey has revealed that the tourists spending the largest sums while visiting Korea were from the Middle East. A large portion of the spending was related to shopping and medical services including cosmetic surgery. According to OECD data, 14.2 million tourists visited Korea in 2014, for a [...]