6 Korean travel agencies’ customer attraction trends
2nd and 3rd place are France and Italy, respectively.
In Asia, Vietnam and Thailand are popular.
<img alt="Tourists looking around the rooftop of Casa Mila, built by Gaudi, in Barcelona, Spain.” src=”https://news.koreadaily.com/data/photo/202410/23/c30e64e1-6d1c-4df9-ab71-7e8ab5d4bc6b.jpg”/>
Tourists looking around the rooftop of Casa Mila, built by Gaudi, in Barcelona, Spain.
The European and Asian countries that Koreans traveled to the most this year were Spain and Japan.
As a result of this year’s survey conducted by Dong-A Ilbo on six Korean travel agencies in the Los Angeles area, Spain ranked overwhelmingly first among European countries.
Sophia Jang, a resident of Apple Valley who went on a family trip to Europe last May, said, “I really wanted to go to Barcelona to see the works of architect Gaudi. “I cannot forget the excitement of visiting Park Guell, Casa Mila, Casa Batlló, and the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in person,” he said.
Steve Cho, managing director of Aju Tour, said, “In addition to Barcelona, Spain is gaining popularity because there are many things to see, such as Madrid, the cultural center, Valencia, famous for the tomato festival, Malaga, the hometown of Picasso, Seville, the home of bullfighting, and Granada, the city of the Alhambra Palace.”
Second and third places were taken by France, with its Eiffel Tower, Bordeaux wine, and the film city of Cannes, and Italy, with its Roman amphitheater, the Vatican, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, followed by the United Kingdom, Turkey, Portugal, Germany, Turkye, Norway, and The Czech Republic was also included as a preferred travel destination for Koreans.
In Asia, Japan ranked first. It is said to have attracted an unusually large number of Japanese visitors as it is popular as a tourist destination linked to visits to their home countries and can enjoy the historically low yen.
In fact, in the ranking of foreigners by nationality visiting Japan in the first half of this year, which recorded the highest number of arrivals ever, Korea ranked first with 25% of the total, and the United States ranked fourth.
Eugene Cho, a college student who visited the Tokyo area for a week with friends during summer vacation, said, “Thanks to the exchange rate, from hotel and transportation costs to shopping, I was able to travel without burden. In particular, there was no tip, so the cost of eating out was approximately 50-60% of that in LA. “The exchange rate has risen a little, but I’m looking into going again during the year-end and New Year holidays.”
Shin Young-im, vice president of Samho Tourism, said, “Koreans are so enthusiastic about traveling to Japan that 30 people have confirmed departure every week until the second week of next month.”
The second and third most popular travel destinations in Asia were Vietnam with Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Nha Trang, and Thailand with Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, and Pattaya, followed by Taiwan.
Meanwhile, according to the ranking of countries with the most visitors in 2024 recently announced by travel website Travel Pirates, first place was France, the host country of the Summer Olympics, with 89.4 million people, and second place was Spain with 83.7 million people.
Third place was the United States, with 79.3 million visitors, and popular tourist destinations included Yosemite National Park and San Francisco, as well as the Statue of Liberty in New York, Alaska, and Hawaii.
Next, Beijing (65.7 million people) and Italy (64.5 million people) ranked 4th and 5th, followed by Turkmenistan (51.2 million people), Mexico (45 million people), Thailand (39.8 million people), Germany (39.6 million people), and the UK (39.4 million people). Included in this top 10.
Reporter Park Nak-hee [email protected]
