Japanese tourists return to Korea

South Korea is seeing signsof a rebound in the numberof Japanese tourists, followinga recent slump due to the (A)H1N1 scare, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has reported.

While Korea enjoyed a boostin tourism thanks to a surge of Japanese travellers earlier this year due to favourable exchangerates, the number has dwindled since the worldwide swine flu outbreak in May.

However based on the surveyby JTB, Japan’s largest travelagency, the KTO said that the number of Japanese travelling to Korea is expected to see a 7% year-on-year surge during July and August, to 304,000 visitors. This compares favourably toan overall 5.8% decline in total global outbound tourism from Japan.

“The number of Japanese touriststo Korea is forecast to increase gradually again during the July and August summer vacation season as well as the holidays in September,” the KTO said. To facilitate this growth, Korea’s Justice Ministry has opened exclusive immigration counters for group travellers at Incheon International Airport, Gimhae Airport and Busan Port.