South Korea's Capital Is Positively Magnetic

South Korea’s capital is positively magnetic for global tourism, business travel and MICE

- Lark Gould

Seoul is booming. Tourism numbers to the Republic of Korea are heading skyward and, as most of those visitors spend time in Seoul, the city is focusing efforts on creating dedicated inbound tourism strategies with an eye toward making Seoul a global model of intelligent tourism design.

Plans for ever taller mixed-use towers and ever larger urban pods of dining, entertainment, shopping, conferences and business are on the table. Seoul is now rivaling neighbors in Japan and Thailand for regional tourism dollars, and part of the strategy is making sure those revenues go into smart planning.

A record 13.5 million foreign visitors landed in the South Korean capital in 2016. The number dipped last year following a political skirmish between the US and China, which resulted in the Chinese government banning travel to the country (which accounts for around half of foreign tourism to Korea). In 2017 868,881 visitors from the United States landed in South Korea, accounting for 6.5 percent of the total number of inbound tourists.

At a recent UNTWO meeting there in September, the Seoul government announced ambitious goals for growth that would attract 23 million visitors to the city by 2023. “Tourism is a good thing for the city. We just have to make sure it is done right,” says Jae-sung Rhee, who was appointed president and CEO of the newly formed Seoul Tourism Organization last spring after 33 years in management at the Korean Tourism Organization.