"Now We Come to Korea for a Month-Long Stay"... Foreigners' Spending in Seoul Hits Record High

From early in the morning, Namdaemun Market is packed to standing room only with foreign tourists.

A long queue has already formed in front of a hotteok stall, a quintessential street food spot.

[Amalendu / Swedish tourist: We just arrived in Korea yesterday. We came to Korea for the food. To enjoy the food.]

Warmth has spread not only to Myeong-dong and Hongdae streets, where tourists traditionally flocked in large numbers, but also to traditional markets.

[Regan / Indonesian tourist: I came to the market and bought souvenirs, a T-shirt, and a keychain.]

An American tourist who came to stay in Korea for a full month simply because she is a fan of the idol group BTS.

[Claudia / American tourist: I came because I love BTS. I want to learn about the culture and do a lot of shopping.]

Foreign tourists' card spending in Seoul reached 8.8435 trillion won through September of this year, marking a 57.7% increase compared to the same period last year.

Having already surpassed last year's total annual spending to record an all-time high, projections suggest that annual spending could exceed 11 trillion won for the first time this year.

This is Geumcheon-gyo Market and Sejong Village Food Street in Jongno, Seoul.

As the footsteps of foreign tourists extend to traditional markets and neighborhood commercial districts, card spending by foreign tourists here from January to September of this year increased by 61% compared to the same period last year.

Tourists visiting Seoul spent the most money on shopping, including beauty products, followed by spending on so-called "K-medical tourism," according to data.

However, regional disparities in spending are severe, with just three districts—Gangnam-gu, Jung-gu, and Mapo-gu—accounting for around 64% of total foreign card spending over the past three years.

[Lee Hoon / Professor of Tourism, Hanyang University: When overtourism phenomena occur, strategies to spread them out across time or locations are necessary. Since there are other spots around certain areas in Jongno as well, we need to develop and promote various other courses and routes...]

The fact that QR code payments, which are active in other countries, do not work smoothly is also pointed out as a task to be improved.

[Mary / Filipino tourist residing in Vietnam: QR code payments are convenient in Vietnam, but it is inconvenient here because there are cases where you need cash.]

(Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Kim Heung-ki | Video Editing by Choi Hye-ran | CG by Lee Ga-jin | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.