Chinese continued to spend a lot overseas during the recent holiday period. It's estimated that about 160 thousand people visited South Korea over Christmas and the New Year, up 12 percent from the previous year.
Data from the Korea National Tourism Organization showed that over 70 percent of Chinese visitors went to South Korea for shopping in 2015, while the rest went for cultural experiences, plastic surgery or other purposes. Chinese tourists spent an average of 2,200 US dollars per person in South Korea, double the average amount spent by other overseas tourists.
Chinese accounted for over 40 percent of foreign visitors to South Korea last year. The number declined 1 percent from the previous year, mainly due to the outbreak of MERS. Nonetheless, Chinese visitors still contributed about 22 billion US dollars of profit to South Korea's service sector, some 1.6 percent of the country's GDP.
