The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade said this in a report "Impact of Chinese Tourists on Industry" published on August 15. The production inducement effect of 13.4 trillion won is equivalent to 0.9 percent of last year's nominal GDP of 1,428.3 trillion won. The employment inducement effect that includes salaried workers and self-employed was 240,798, of which the effect for salaried workers was 126,456.

 

According to the report, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Korea increased to 4,326,000 in 2013 from only 1,068,000 in 2007, with an average annual growth rate of 26.2 percent. The share of Chinese visitors in the total foreign tourists also rose to 35.5 percent from 16.6 percent.

 

What's more remarkable is their average spending. The per-capita expenditure last year was $2,272, up 80 percent from $1,262 in 2008. This is 35 percent higher than all foreign tourists' average spending of $1,684. In contrast, the per-capita spending of Japanese visitors shrank to $990 last year from $1,033 during the same period.

 

The total amount of money spent by the Chinese tourists last year was 7,672.2 billion won, which is 4.1 times higher than that for 2010 (1,878.9 billion won), accounting for 49 percent of all expenditure made by all foreign tourists last year. According to the report, the production inducement effect on the economy has reached 13,371.7 billion won last year. This is 2.4 times higher than that in 2010 when the comparable figure was 5,581.2 billion won. By industrial sector, the retail industry took the largest portion of 4,487.3 billion won, followed by food and beverage (1,198.0 billion won) and lodging (1,183.5 billion won).