Choi Sang-mok, acting President and Minister of Strategy and Finance, said on the 21st, "I will do my best to ensure that the warmth of revitalizing inbound tourism spreads nationwide through events such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit scheduled for November."
Choi noted this after visiting the Korea Grand Sale Myeongdong Welcome Center and Olive Young Myeongdong Town in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the same day.
A Ministry of Strategy and Finance official explained, "This visit was arranged for acting President Choi to directly check the recovery of the inbound tourism market and to assess and promote the progress of the '2025 Korea Grand Sale.'"
The number of inbound tourists was 16.37 million last year, recovering to 93.5% of the level seen before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 (17.5 million). In 2020, it was 2.52 million, in 2021 it was 3.2 million, and in 2023 it was 11.03 million.
To revitalize inbound tourism, the government has been hosting the large-scale public-private shopping tourism festival '2025 Korea Grand Sale' since the 15th of last month.
Additionally, welcome centers have been established in major tourism and shopping hubs such as Myeongdong, Seongsu, Hongdae, Gangnam, and Jamsil to provide relevant information and are also offering shopping tourism services such as interpretation support and prizes for buyers.
During his visit to the Myeongdong Welcome Center, acting President Choi checked the shopping and tourism benefits and multilingual tourism information services, and encouraged the efforts of over 1,680 corporations and on-site officials participating in the event.
Choi said, "I will make every effort to ensure that foreign tourists do not experience any inconveniences throughout all phases of tourism, including arrival, travel, and shopping," and urged, "Please actively develop customized experience programs utilizing Korea's culture, daily life, and history, taking advantage of the high preference of foreign tourists who want to experience the latest daily lives of Koreans."
He added, "I will further strengthen promotional activities targeting foreigners so that the expansion of inbound tourism can inject vitality into the domestic market and the livelihoods of the people."