Chinese visitation to South Korea has grown to the point where the country is now the third-most popular destination for mainland tourists after Macau and Hong Kong.
Visitation from China surged 51.5% from 2012 to 2013 and is forecast to grow another 40.9% in 2014 to more than 6 million, according to a new report in English-language daily The Korea Herald. Including visitors from Hong Kong and Taiwan, the number of Chinese-speaking tourists is expected to surpass 7.4 million, accounting for more than half of all foreign arrivals.
This is good news for a massive wave of planned investment in new gaming resorts targeting South Korea’s burgeoning high-roller market.
Encouraged by more liberal policies on the part of a central government eager to cash in on the country’s popularity, two destination-scale casinos are in development in a special economic zone near Incheon International Airport, the main gateway for foreign arrivals, located about 30 kilometers from the capital of Seoul.
The first, a joint venture between Paradise Group, the leader of the country’s foreigners-only casino market, and Japanese pachinko giant Sega Sammy is slated to open in 2017 at an initial cost of US$750 million. The second, a joint venture similarly priced and led by US casino operator Caesars Entertainment, recently struck a $95 million deal to acquire land for a resort scheduled to break ground in the zone this year ahead of a planned opening in 2018.
A trio of smaller casinos backed by affiliates of Malaysian resort conglomerate Genting are planned or in development on the tourist island of Jeju—which is visa-free for Chinese travelers and is home to eight of the country’s 16 foreigners-only casinos—and in the northeastern province hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics.
“The (close) proximity is one of the great advantages that draws Chinese tourists to Korea,” an official with the state-run Korea Tourism Organization told the Herald. “We saw more people coming from inland provinces as we focus our travel promotions on inland Chinese cities. The influence of the Korean [cultural] Wave has definitely been a strong attraction for Chinese tourists.”
The Herald said tourism income is expected to grow more than 21% year on year in 2015, reaching $17.6 billion, with the Chinese comprising the biggest spenders, according to the KTO.
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