Chinese and Japanese tourists rank first and second in the number of people visiting South Korea each year. According to the latest survey by the Korea Tourism Organization, their habits and preferences are very different although they do agree on one thing – Seoul is their favorite city.
When it comes to travel motivation, 42% of Japanese tourist visit South Korea for the food and gourmet experience, while 33% of Chinese visit South Korea for shopping. Hence it is not surprising that an average visitor from China spends more than double that of Japanese traveler ($1,887 vs $791).
Korean food
Japanese tourists tend to make frequent short visits, while Chinese travelers stay longer and visit less frequently. The surveyed Japanese tourists visited Korea over 6.1. times on average, higher than the Chinese tourists’ four times. However, Chinese tourists stayed for an average of 8.2 days, more than two-times longer compared to Japanese tourists’ 3.9 days.
Both Chinese (79%) and Japanese (73%) tourists chose Seoul as the best city to visit in South Korea. For their second-best destination, Japanese travelers picked Busan while Chinese travelers preferred Jeju Island. More than 95% of Chinese travelers were satisfied with their visit to Korea, showing higher levels of satisfaction compared to 86% of those from Japan.
Seoul by night