Korean culture has become a bigger export for the country than Samsung, LG and Hyundai. K-Pop. K-Flicks, Korean food and more have all contributed to raising the popularity of Korea around the region and around the world. And this has lead to a boom in Korean Tourism.

In 2017 the last year that we have definitive statistics from, the total contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP was KRW80,880.1bn (USD71.4bn), 4.7% of GDP in 2017, and is forecast  to rise by 3.5% pa to KRW118,002.0bn (USD104.2bn), 5.3% of GDP in 2028.

A growing number of International travelers will visit South Korea in the next few years, driven by a sharp rise in Chinese arrivals drawn by the popularity of Korean pop culture.

The number of inbound travelers projected to rise an average of 2.2%  yearly until2020, which would amount to 80.29 million, with Chinese travelers accounting for 35.52 million according to the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

Among Asia Pacific destinations, South Korea, Japan, the Maldives and Thailand were expected to see the fastest growth in foreign visitors during the period, said the non-profit travel trade association based in Thailand.

South Korea was also among the countries that would see the fastest rise in a wave of outbound travelers, along with China, Thailand and India.

The association expected Koreans would most prefer neighboring Asian nations, including China, Japan and other Southeast Asian nations for their holidays in the next four years. Korean Tourism is hot thanks to the spread of Korean culture.