South Korea looks to assuage tourists spooked by political chaos

SEOUL: South Korea is urging tourists to continue visiting the East Asian country, as also actively engaging with foreign governments regarding the safety of tour groups following political tensions triggered by a failed martial law attempt.

“There is a slight concern that tourist arrivals may decline next year,” Culture Minister Yu In-Chon said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Seoul.

“But we are trying to stabilise this situation by continuing to provide relevant information, sending letters to diplomats and communicating with foreign tour organisations.”

Seoul’s push to attract foreign tourists comes after President Yoon Suk-yeol’s shock decision to declare martial law last week. Although the decree was revoked within hours, the resultant political turmoil is weighing on tourism at a time when South Korea was striving to woo foreign visitors to match levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.

While it’s too early to gauge any immediate impact from the crisis on the number of arrivals, signs are mounting that Chinese tourists are shunning the country until the situation calms down. The number of visitors from China, who make up the largest proportion of arrivals from overseas, may decline around 19% in the first quarter, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, amid concerns about protests and strikes.

About 20% of appointments by foreigners at Korea’s hospitals have been cancelled, mainly by Chinese patients seeking plastic surgery or beauty treatments, said Kim Jin-kuk, an ophthalmologist who leads the Korea Medical Tour Promotion Association. There is a growing concern among South Korea’s much-vaunted medical industry that travelers may hesitate to visit the country for treatment, which would have a major impact their sales.

Still, there are about 3,000 foreign influencers living in Korea and they are uploading SNS posts to say Seoul is safe to travel, Kim said.

“Everyone is struggling,” said Park In Chul, head of the Seoul Tourism Association. There is little sign tourists are cancelling hotel reservations yet but “there are no new bookings at all,” he said.

In a bid to turn the city into a hot international destination for the peak holiday season, Seoul city government is set to hold its biggest-ever annual “Winter Festa” event in Gwanghwamun Square starting this Friday.

Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon has pledged to push forward with the festival as scheduled, but plans to use some of the city’s emergency funds to compensate local businesses and produce promotional videos underscoring how safe Seoul is.

Some of the local festivals have scaled back the size of events in the wake of the aborted-martial law decree that’s soured the festive mood of people. The culture minister said he’s requesting organizers to proceed with festivals as planned so that the economy keeps ticking, and people draw comfort from such activities.

Yu, a well-known actor before becoming the culture minister, has pitched a grand vision to develop a new district dedicated to Korean-themed movies, television programmes and music by 2035. He is also pushing for more government funds for movie and television production houses that have been struggling financially as an increasing portion of the money in the industry flows to global streaming platforms and actors.

“We are not seeing a big impact on our plans and budget for next year,” he said.

“And no matter which government will be in power, content is a big trend that can’t be missed.” – Bloomberg