외국인 관광객 100명 중 1명만 광주 방문…"관광정책 재검토"
A record 15
million foreigners are expected to visit Korea by the end of this year.
According to
the Korea Tourism Organization, the number of foreign visitors has reached over
10 million so far this year, however, Gwangju has no to little effect on
attracting foreign tourists.
Visitors to
Gwanju accounted for 1.1 percent last year, even though the city held
international events this year, it is still showing a clear decreasing trend.
Seoul was the
highest with 78.8 percent, followed by Gyeonggi Province with 15.6 percent,
Busan with 15.1 percent, Jeju with 10.8 percent, Incheon with 10 percent and
Gangwon with 6.8 percent, the data showed.
In particular,
Gwangju had the lowest percentage of foreign tourists among the nation's seven
major and metropolitan cities.
Experts said
it is essential to develop various tourist courses and programs and construct
duty free shops to start attracting foreign tourists.