Increased visitation from Japan
The Korea Casino Association released sales figures for January and February that show South Korea’s foreigners-only casinos rallying after the Mainland China government eased its travel restrictions to the country.
According to Asia Gaming Brief, revenues reached KRW204.8 billion (US$191.6 million), up 15.9 percent from the same period last year. The data also showed an increase in the number of visitors to the nation’s 16 foreigner-only casinos, up 1.6 percent in the first two months of the year to 366,000, primarily due to increased visitors from Japan. Chinese tourism continued to decline, dropping 3.2 percent in January and 5.2 percent in February.
In 2016, the United States installed its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea. THAAD ostensibly was implemented as a safeguard against North Korean aggression, but Beijing said the system’s powerful radar could be used to spy on it.
Last March, China banned the sale of package tours to South Korea. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, Chinese tourists to South Korea amounted 4.17 million in 2017, down 48.3 percent from the previous year. The decline is estimated to have slashed approximately 5 trillion won (US$4.7 billion) from South Korea’s gross domestic product last year.
Last fall, China reinstated group tours to South Korea, but still limits incentive and cruise tours to the country.
“Chinese visitors are still the biggest group of customers at foreigners-only casinos, but their number continues to fall,” a casino industry official told AGB. “We are seeing a turnaround this year, thanks to a steady increase of tourists from Japan.”
The number of visitors from Taiwan also fell 16.7 percent in January but increased 32.3 percent in February, according to the data.
