South Korean retailers and hotels are enjoying a boom thanks to surging tourists at home and abroad during the holidays in early May across North Asia as more than 180,000 foreigners are expected to visit the country.
Japan is already in the Golden Week holiday this week, while China’s five-day Labor Day holiday starts on Wednesday. South Korea has a long weekend this week with a substitute public holiday on May 6.
About 100,000 Japanese tourists and 80,000 Chinese visitors are predicted to come to South Korea, respectively, from April 27 to May 6, according to the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and tourism on Tuesday.
Hotels and casinos are key beneficiaries of the boom. Hotels in Jeju island, South Korea’s top resort, have already been fully booked with Grand Hyatt Jeju reporting reservations of 11,890 rooms from April 27 to May 5, the largest since its…