Gyeonggi
Province releases new report on international tourist behavior based on big
data analysis of 1.27 million cases

◇ Major tourist sites in Gyeonggi Province for international visitors ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News 

The results of a study showed that there were differences in tourist
behavior by country among foreigners who visited Gyeonggi Province. According
to the results, Chinese preferred KINTEX while Japanese preferred Goyang OneMount
and Americans preferred Suwon Hwaseong Museum.

On February 9, Gyeonggi Province released the results of ‘Behavior
Analysis of Foreign Tourists in Gyeonggi Province’, a study based on 1.27
million cases of card and telecom usage, and said the report will be used as a
reference for Gyeonggi Province’s tourism policy for foreigners.

Gyeonggi Province analyzed 674,347 cases of Shinhan card usage and that of
its affiliated companies from July 2013 to June 2015, and 570,588 cases of
SKT’s foreigner roaming data usage from January to August 2015.

According to the results, 2.95 million foreigners visited Gyeonggi
Province, accounting for 22.3% of the total number of foreigners who visited
Korea in 2015. Tourists from three countries – China, Japan, and the United
States – accounted for 72.4% of all tourists from 194 countries who visited
Korea. Chinese tourists accounted for 40.0%, Japanese for 21.5%, and Americans
for 10.9%.

According to SKT’s roaming data analysis, the most visited place in Gyeonggi
Province excluding accommodations was Goyang OneMount with 3.6%, followed by
KINTEX with 3.5% and Suwon Hwaseong Museum with 3.1%.

The study found that Chinese and Japanese preferred regular tourist
attractions (25% each) more than cultural facilities (Chinese: 19%, Japanese:
24%). Meanwhile, Americans preferred cultural facilities (23%) over regular
tourist attractions (20%).

In addition, Japanese and Americans were more interested in historical
sites (9% each) than Chinese tourists (7%). Chinese and Americans were
relatively more interested in security tourist resorts (4% each) than Japanese
(1%).

Specifically, Chinese visited KINTEX (2.9%) and Goyang OneMount (2.9%)
the most, Japanese visited Goyang OneMount (4.6%) and KINTEX (4.4%) the most,
while Americans visited Suwon Hwaseong Museum (4.2%) and Imjingak Pavilion (3.7%)
the most.

In addition, the study showed that visitors from Kazakhstan spent considerable
sums on medical services in Bundang-gu of Seongnam City and Wonmi-gu of Bucheon
City, where many medical institutions are located. Thai visitors preferred ski
resorts, and Malaysians preferred historic sites such as Hwaseong Haenggung and
Haengjusanseong Fortress, unlike other Southeast Asian tourists. Most tourists
from Hong Kong visited Korea in April-May, when many spring events such as cherry
blossom festivals are held.

According to an analysis of international visitors’ card spending in 6
categories, such as hospitals, shopping, accommodation, sports, and more, 58%
of total card usage by foreigners who visited Gyeonggi Province was concentrated
in 6 cities: Suwon (KRW 99.9 billion), Ansan (KRW 92.4 billion), Paju (KRW 59.4
billion), Osan (KRW 57.6 billion), Seongnam (KRW 56.9 billion), and Yongin (KRW
55.2 billion).

Based on these results, Gyeonggi Province plans to develop a customized
marketing strategy for different nationalities of foreign tourists. Gyeonggi
Province believes that customized products need to be developed since special
tourism patterns of visitors from Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, and other countries have
been discovered through big data analysis.

It has been found that, in the cases of Seongnam and Bucheon where
medical expenses are much higher than in other regions, it is possible to
develop polices for medical tourists such as offering discounts and
interpretation support, introducing medical products, and developing associated
healthcare products.

In addition, Gyeonggi Province plans to utilize this report for developing
local tourism contents that meet the demands of many international visitors,
such as tourist routes in connection with medical tourism, ski resorts, and
water parks.

ⓒ Gyeonggi G News | Nam Gyeong-woo 
echo2008f@gg.go.kr 

http://gnews.gg.go.kr/news/news_detail.asp?number=201602111417007055C048&s_code=C048