As Asia's emerging economies grow faster, a study predicted, the number of foreign tourists visiting Korea may reach 23 million by 2020. Baik Da-mi, research fellow with Hyundai Economic Research Institute, said this in a research report "The Economic Ripple Effect of Rising Foreign Tourist Numbers" published on January 25, recommending, "The government must focus its marketing effort to attract tourists from Asian emerging economies such as China and other Southeast Asian nations."
Based on projections on per-capita income and tourism demand for each country, she estimated the number of tourists coming to Korea. According to the analysis, the estimated number of inbound tourists from China and Southeast Asia is likely to increase to 15 million by 2020. Of these, the number of Chinese tourists will be over 10 million.
Adding to this the tourists from other countries will yield the estimated number of 23 million. This is 64 percent higher than the 14-million tourists who visited Korea last year. If the tourist numbers indeed rise to that level as estimated, it is likely to generate the economic value of 117.2 trillion won with 1.53 million jobs created directly and indirectly through the tourism demand. It is equivalent to 2.5 percent of the nominal GDP for 2020.
