The inbound tourism platform Creatrip announced the analysis of inbound tourism business areas in Seoul. The analysis was conducted based on data on the use of its services by foreign tourists who visited Seoul from January to April this year. According to the analysis, Seongsu-dong and Apgujeong showed the biggest growth in the number of transactions and the amount of transactions, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Analysts say that the tourism area is expanding to the eastern part of Seoul from Gyeongbokgung Palace, Hongdae, and Myeongdong, which are representative foreign tourist destinations. In Seongsu-dong, where the number of transactions increased the most, “photo studios” accounted for about 63% of the total number of transactions in tourism products. Photo studios, including “Shihyun-hae,” are believed to have gained popularity among young Koreans. Seongsu-dong was found to be a hot spot to experience the Korean Wave culture, with the K-pop dance one-day class of “One Million Studio,” which was released at the end of last year, accounting for about 17% of the total.
The area near Apgujeong, including Cheongdam-dong, was found to have a high proportion of use of “beauty salons” and “make-up” both last year and this year. In particular, personal color consultation was found to be about 73% of the number of transactions in the beauty shop category in Apgujeong.
Personal color consultation accounted for about 42% of the transactions of tourism products in Apgujeong, which led to the growth of transactions in the “beauty shop” category. Yeouido showed high growth as it ranked third and second in the number of transactions and the increase in transactions respectively. During the same period last year, activity and landmark ticket transactions such as Han River Cruise and 63 Building Aquarium accounted for a significant portion of the restaurant reservations, but the number of restaurant reservations increased significantly, which became more like a “taste tour.”
In both last year and this year, Gangnam showed a high proportion of transactions of beauty clinics such as plastic surgery and dermatology. It is also noteworthy that the proportion of people visiting ophthalmology for vision correction has increased.
However, this survey was based on the use of services through the Creative Trip platform, which may differ from the consumption of all foreign tourists. Gyeongbokgung Palace and Myeongdong, where you can enjoy existing tourism products, still boast high visit rates, but the number of foreign tourists who want to experience new travel contents such as photo studios, personal color diagnosis, and K food is increasing, and the commercial district in downtown Seoul is growing in a balanced way.
SALLY LEE
US ASIA JOURNAL
