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Chinese tourists expected to spend $29 bil. on shopping in Korea in 2020

Chinese tourists expected to spend $29 bil. on shopping in Korea in 2020

Posted August. 21, 2014 01:31,   

한국어

Spending in Korea by Chinese tourists known as "youke" will exceed 30 trillion won (29.4 billion U.S. dollars), new analysis showed. According to Korea Tourism Organization and Hana Daetoo Securities on Thursday, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Korea will increase by an annual average of 19.8 percent in the years ahead to reach 14.88 million in 2020. The figure represents a 253 percent hike from last year (4.21 million).

Due to a surge in the number of Chinese tourists, their spending in Korea is also projected to soar. Hana Daetoo Securities predicted expenditures on shopping (excluding transport and lodging) in Korea by Chinese tourists, which was 6.11 trillion won (5.98 billion dollars) last year, will increase five folds (about 30.54 trillion won or 29.89 billion dollars) in 2020. This represents about 7.7 percent of the projected overall domestic consumption (398.30 trillion won or 389.9 billion dollars) in Korea in 2020. The rate was 1.9 percent last year. This means that the Korean economy’s dependence on Chinese tourists will increase to the same extent.

The annual growth rate of domestic spending on shopping by Chinese tourists has been constantly increasing from 2010 (30.1 percent) to last year (52.5 percent). Hana Daetoo Securities projected the growth rate for this year at 30.6 percent, while predicting that the rate will gradually show down to 18.5 percent in 2020.

Chinese tourists are found to be mostly shopping at duty-free shops and primarily purchasing cosmetics. The amount of money Chinese tourists spent at duty-free shops in Korea last year amounted to 1.91 trillion won (1.87 billion dollars), accounting for 29.8 percent of overall sales at duty-free shops in the country.