Make Visitors Stay: Korea Needs Reasons to Bring Them Back
Creatrip Team
3 months ago
Alberto Mondi, an Italian TV personality and vice president of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Korea, says Korea’s inbound tourism boom driven by K-pop and K-dramas faces a major weakness: low repeat visits. Many visitors treat a short Seoul circuit (e.g., Namsan Tower, Hongdae, Insadong, Gyeongbokgung) as “enough,” and travel products still over-focus on Seoul, Busan, and Jeju. Mondi argues travel agencies must better segment markets (travel preferences differ by nationality) and craft deeper, longer experiences. He highlights assets that move foreign visitors—temples (sachal), Confucian academies (seowon), and traditional calligraphy (seoye) and script experiences—where visitors find unique philosophy, architecture, meditation, and hands-on art like making hanji paper or getting their name written in hangul. Mondi recommends region-based packaging (like Tuscany or Amalfi) to connect small towns into multi-day routes (e.g., Gyeongbuk sites: Buseoksa, Andong, Bangudae petroglyphs) so tourists have reasons to stay longer and return.
