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slothrop
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
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 Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 11:45 pm Post subject: edit |
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edit.
Last edited by slothrop on Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:19 am; edited 4 times in total |
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luckylady
Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Location: u.s. of occupied territories
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 12:03 am Post subject: |
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Korea probably had a lot of visitors from former Koreans/2nd and 3rd generation Koreans as the economy in other countries collapse, they seek out the possibility of returning is all
China at 53 million is not unrealistic. word is out how cheap it is and China has made it easier to visit. Yellowstone Park in the U.S. alone has several million visitors a year - why not China, a country that is globally known and interesting to many?
as for Thailand, same thing, they've had numerous civil disruptions there, which could account for only 19 million, if that's a low number? 19 mill still sounds like a lot to me, especially since most come in at just a few places there, either Phuket or Bangkok. |
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slothrop
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 12:09 am Post subject: |
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edit
Last edited by slothrop on Tue May 15, 2012 8:00 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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GoldMember
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 12:24 am Post subject: |
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Having travelled heaps of times between Korea and Japan also Korea and China. At immigration the vast majority (over 90%) of travellers were Korean.
When people go to Thailand they often stay for a few weeks. Visits to Korea are usually for a few days only.
Heres an easy way to check the figures.
www.agoda.com Busan 87 Hotels, Singapore (similar population) 262, Bangkok (smaller than Seoul) 965, Seoul 350 (central seoul 26).
10 mil, don't think so! |
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drydell
Joined: 01 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 4:17 am Post subject: |
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| OP you seem to be assuming white people are the 'foreign visiters' . Yes lots more whiteys in Thailand. But the Japanese travel a lot and the Chinese middle class now love coming to Korea and spending insane amounts on designer stuff. I'd bet the Western percentage of those tourists to Korea is still very low. |
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chungbukdo
Joined: 22 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 4:25 am Post subject: |
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Lots of the people who come on tourist visas to Korea are Americans or Canadians with Korean ancestry (at least those are the people I've sat with on the plane before).
I've been to both Thailand and Korea on tourist visas this year. Currently in Korea on a tourist visa. Basically I only "tour" this country when I get a Nailro pass, otherwise when I'm here on tourist visas I'm visiting my gf.
In Thailand this year (3 months) I did a lot more "travelly" stuff, so I actually stayed at guesthouses and hotels. I gotta say, although there's not much to see in Korea, the transportation system is much better at delivering you there than in Thailand. Never bother taking the busses, just fly between cities in Thailand. They were always horrible, and my gf got tonnes of bedbug bites from one bus trip.
So to determine the spending habits they can't just tally up visas granted. Ive been in and out of Korea this year with two visa stamps, and that also does not make me two visitors (I made my home base as Korea and then flew to other places). |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 4:33 am Post subject: |
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| They're probably counting people who pass through ICN. |
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Hokie21
Joined: 01 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 5:13 am Post subject: |
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Without doing any research I would imagine Thailand's 2011 tourism numbers took a heavy hit from the extensive flooding that closed down parts of Bangkok etc.
Just a guess though. |
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slothrop
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 6:02 am Post subject: |
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edit
Last edited by slothrop on Tue May 15, 2012 8:00 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 6:53 am Post subject: |
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| Hokie21 wrote: |
Without doing any research I would imagine Thailand's 2011 tourism numbers took a heavy hit from the extensive flooding that closed down parts of Bangkok etc.
Just a guess though. |
That is probable. Perhaps the political instability hurt tourism too? Who knows.
The number for China seems plausible.
As for Korea it is not a tourism hotspot, nor will it ever be so the numbers seem about right. |
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slothrop
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 7:40 am Post subject: |
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edit
Last edited by slothrop on Sat May 19, 2012 6:49 am; edited 4 times in total |
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The Sultan of Seoul
Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Location: right... behind.. YOU
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 8:52 am Post subject: |
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Korea gets a lot of Japanese for shopoing trips for high end cosmetics and perfumes which are a lot cheaper in SK.
Also a lot of Japanese and Chinese go there for the casinos, as there are none in Japan or China. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 9:42 am Post subject: |
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| The Sultan of Seoul wrote: |
Korea gets a lot of Japanese for shopoing trips for high end cosmetics and perfumes which are a lot cheaper in SK.
Also a lot of Japanese and Chinese go there for the casinos, as there are none in Japan or China. |
Anecdotally, I know a few Japanese girls who comes to Korea at least three times a year for shopping trips. I wonder how many of these might be repeat visitors. |
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luckylady
Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Location: u.s. of occupied territories
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 10:23 am Post subject: |
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| slothrop wrote: |
| most who visit yellowstone are americans. i bet they don't get millions of foreigners visiting it every year. the great wall probably had 100,000,000 visitors each year, 90% of them chinese. |
I would guestimate 25% average tourists to the major national parks in the U.S. are foreigners - there are busloads of them; the Grand Canyon, Yosmite, Yellowstone; all are regularly visited by foreign groups so your point is moot. I was just using it as an example as to how numbers can be larger than one might first imagine anyway.
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| is china cheap? i know it is for the chinese, but don't they increase prices alot for tourists whether it be for food or accomodation? |
of course it matters where one stays and goes and with a group or not but it's a silly question to ask if China is cheap - why do you think all those companies are relocated there anyway? I traveled across the country by train for nearly 3 days on a tkt that cost about $55; stayed in 3-4 star hotels and never paid over $20/night.
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i was in thailand during the curfews and riots a few years back, no shortage of foreigners to be seen at the peak of hostilities. here is a list of places where you will see so many foreigners in thailand you may forget you are in thailand..
bangkok, pattaya,phuket,krabi, chiangmai,chiangrai, pai,ko samui,ko phannang, ko tao, ko lanta,ko chang,hua hin,ko samet, ko phi phi... i'm bored thinking of them all. |
no shortage of foreigners during the protests, because they were caught up in the activity, it's later that a country pays for instability, especially when the main airport has been noticed in the news as one of the sites of the instability.
take for example S. Africa; as soon as apartheid was ended and ever since, boosting tourism was one of their main goals and of course, the tourists were happy to oblige, for the most part.
as for Korea, as I mentioned, a lot are probably ethnic Koreans from abroad. just visit some of the main tourist sites touted by the Korean tourist industry and look around - you won't see many diverse faces there.
as to how Korea can improve its tourist industry? easy - have more and better English spoken as well as bilingual signage in museums and art galleries, places tourists visit.
I recall a vacation I took in-country one year, traveled to Andong which is widely touted to be so important historically-speaking. I was really excited and looking forward to it. what I found - no English anywhere, no tours, no guides, nothing. I was given directions to take a regular city bus to some of the main locations (no map was available), said no and opted for a taxi. after the fare hit 20,000 won I said turn around and take me back. I stayed in a hotel for a couple of days, hung out and left. I was very disappointed.
it would have been one thing if this was just another rural town in Korea but it wasn't - over and over again this is supposed to be such an important locale for Korean history and traditions yet there was just so little available to the foreign tourist it was a shame, a real shame. I'd been burned before on Korean historical spots but this one was the pits - would not make that mistake again - my money would go out of the country to places that actually understood tourism.
oh, btw, when I did find someone who spoke enough English to ask about this, it was explained to me that tourism in Korea was meant for Koreans, not foreigners. that says it all right there  |
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slothrop
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 11:06 am Post subject: |
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edit
Last edited by slothrop on Tue May 15, 2012 7:58 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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