Skip to main content

[Yanolja Research Brief] Vol.8 Korea’s Inbound and Outbound Tourism Performance in the First Quarter of 2025

The first quarter of 2025 marked a turning point for Korea’s tourism industry, with both inbound and outbound travel reaching new milestones. Here’s a concise overview of the most important trends and findings.


Inbound Tourism: Record Numbers, New Challenges

  • Highest-Ever Visitor Numbers
  • Revenue Lagging Behind
  • Asia Leads, but Recovery Is Uneven
  • Structural Shifts
  • Changing Visitor Mix
  • Duty-Free Sales Down


Outbound Tourism: Robust Growth and Spending

  • Travel Abroad Nearly Back to Normal
  • Top Destinations
  • Spending Rebounds
  • Widening Tourism Deficit


Looking Forward: Unlocking Regional Potential

  • Regional Airports as a Growth Engine
  • Focus on High-Value Tourism


Discover More

These highlights only scratch the surface of Korea’s evolving tourism landscape. For deeper insights, detailed data, and expert perspectives, visit the official website.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

[Yanolja Research Brief] Vol.5 Korea's Inbound and Outbound Tourism Performance in 2024

Korea’s Tourism Landscape in 2024: Key Highlights 2024 marked a dynamic year for Korea’s tourism industry, with both inbound and outbound travel showing strong signs of recovery. Explore the main trends shaping the sector and discover why now is a pivotal moment for Korea’s travel market. Inbound Tourism: Visitor Numbers Surge, Revenue Lags Visitor Recovery Nears Pre-Pandemic Levels Over 16.3 million foreign tourists visited Korea in 2024, reaching 93.5% of the 2019 record and rising 48.4% from the previous year. Asian travelers made up nearly 79% of all visitors, though full recovery from this region remains just out of reach. Diverse Growth Across Regions Arrivals from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Oceania exceeded 2019 levels, while the Middle East saw a minor dip. Tourism Revenue Stagnates Despite the influx of visitors, tourism income reached only $16.45 billion-just 80% of the 2019 figure. Visitors are Flooding into Korea—But Where’s the Money? Outbound Travel: Koreans Travel...

Announcing the Launch of the Global Tourism City Attractiveness Index and Global Rankings

 🧭 Discover the World’s Most Attractive Tourism Cities: Launch of the Yanolja Attractiveness Index Website We are pleased to announce the official launch of the Yanolja Attractiveness Index website, a new destination for exploring the Global Tourism City Attractiveness Index —developed by Yanolja Research in collaboration with Purdue University CHRIBA and Kyung Hee University Center for H&T Analytics . This global index offers a data-driven and theory-based evaluation of tourism cities around the world, measuring their attractiveness through both emotional (affective) and perceptual (cognitive) dimensions. It captures how positively cities are emotionally experienced by tourists (Attractiveness) and how widely known or prominent they are (Reputation). 🔍 What Is Tourism City Attractiveness? Tourism City Attractiveness refers to the combination of psychological and perceptual factors that influence a tourist’s decision to visit a city. The concept builds on foundationa...

[Yanolja Research Insights Vol.28] How Do Airline Supply Networks Shape the Geographic Concentration of Inbound Tourism?

Curious About How an Unbalanced Air Network  Creates Tourism Blind Spots? Take a look at the summary below  ⬇️ Korea’s inbound tourism continues to show  a chronic concentration in the capital region. As shown in the graph above, about 73% of all international visitors in 2024   entered the country through Incheon and Gimpo airports  — both located in the Seoul metropolitan area. This capital-centric tourism flow has been identified as one of the key barriers  to the growth of Korea’s tourism industry . Understanding the structure of air service supply is crucial,  and the route patterns of three Northeast Asian countries  — Japan, China, and Taiwan — are especially noteworthy. The proportion of domestic vs. foreign airlines  differs significantly across these countries.  For example, in Japan routes, Korean carriers dominate ,  which could restrict air access for foreign travelers .🥲 📈Over the past decade, Korean low-cost ca...