South Korea

Last Updated on: 22 July 2010

Visitor Arrivals June 2010

Year End Total 61,244 0.8%
Month End Total 4,160 33.6%
Year End Holiday 35,382 1.8%
Month End Holiday 2,640 70.5%

Other Stats (YE March 2010)

Median Length of Stay (Holiday) 6 days
Average Expenditure per Visit NZD3551
Total Expenditure per Annum NZD185.5m

Situation and Outlook

The economy's return to stability has helped drive a swift recovery in outbound travel and New Zealand is seeing the benefits of this, with year-on-year growth in arrivals throughout...

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74%

of South Korean holiday visitors travel to New Zealand on pre-arranged group or semi-structured tour packages (YE Mar 10)

Market Overview

New Zealand is a popular holiday destination among South Korean travellers. Despite volatile market growth, it is New Zealand's sixth-largest market in terms of visitor numbers and seventh-largest source of expenditure.

Despite a drop in visitor arrivals, the amount of money each South Korean visitor spends while visiting New Zealand climbed significantly in 2009, increasing almost 40 per cent from NZD2,964 in 2008 to NZD4,131 in 2009.

Korean visitor arrivals returned to growth in December 2009, after 18 months of decline. Declines were partly due to the abandonment of shopping commission practices in late 2007, which were an important source of income for agents, and reduced airline capacity. The H1N1 Influenza A (Swine Flu) outbreak in May 2009 and the global economic crisis also contributed significantly to a sharp drop in outbound travel from South Korea in 2009.

However, visitor arrivals to New Zealand saw year-on-year growth throughout the first quarter of 2010, indicating the market is beginning to recover. Quality issues around low cost package tours have diminished.

Tourism New Zealand is looking to take advantage of opportunities in South Korea as it returns to strength. Our current focus is on work with the South Korean travel trade to develop higher end/luxury and free independent travel. These sectors match well with what New Zealand can offer South Korean holidaymakers and will help build yield from this market.

Fifity five per cent of South Korean visitors combine a trip to New Zealand with another destination. About one-third travel to centres outside the main regions. More than 70 per cent of holiday visitors travel to New Zealand on pre-arranged group or semi-structured tour packages organised by tour companies based in South Korea.

  • Situation and Outlook

    The economy's return to stability has helped drive a swift recovery in outbound travel and New Zealand is seeing the benefits of this, with year-on-year growth in arrivals throughout...

    Read More
  • Visitor Arrivals

    Between 1999 and 2008, total visitor arrivals from South Korea increased by 80 per cent. However, growth of the market has been volatile since the 1990s. While the outlook...

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  • What We're Up To

    Tourism New Zealand is currently focused on growing the Free Independent Travel (FIT) and luxury travel sectors of the South Korean market. We continue to work closely with travel...

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  • Working in Market

    Well established business relationships exist between the New Zealand tourism industry and the South Korean travel trade. This is very important as more than 70 per cent of South...

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  • Visitor Experience Monitor

    Although visitors from South Korea are reasonably satisfied with their New Zealand holidays, their overall satisfaction rating is the lowest of all our major markets. Satisfaction among Korean visitors...

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  • Contact Us

    Tourism New Zealand has offices in Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong, with activity in the North Asian markets overseen by our regional manager based in Shanghai.

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