SEOUL, KOREA - Chinese tourists, commonly known as "youkers," are dominating tourists from other countries in terms of per-person spending as well as the visitor number. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, Chinese independent travelers last year spent US$2,272 per person, 41.1 percent higher than the total foreign traveler average of $1,610. Comparing to that of Japanese tourists who spent $990, this is more than double the amount.

 

The per-head expenditure of Chinese tourists is steadily on the rise for the past several years. For example, the figure in 2010 was $1,627, followed by $1,949 in 2011 and $2,159 in 2012. This is quite different from the trend exhibited by American and Japanese counterparts whose per-capita spending changed from $1,397 and $1,076 in 2010 to $1,470 (+5.2%) and $990 (-8.0%) in 2013, respectively.

 

A Korea Tourism Organization official explained, "It seems most Chinese visitors to Korea are for pleasure instead of business, which is why they tend to spend more on shopping and other items than tourists from other countries."