By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter



Myongdong, the downtown shopping district of Seoul, attracts the most tourists, followed by Tongdaemun Market with its large shopping malls, a survey said.

The survey by Research & Research, at the request of Seoul City on Oct. 23-31, revealed the famous shopping streets of Myongdong attracted 217 foreign visitors, or 47.6 percent, of 457 foreigners.

Tongdaemun Market came in second with 115 visitors, or 33.9 percent, followed by Kyongbokgung Palace in central Seoul with 141, or 31 percent.

The survey was taken from 157 tourists of English-speaking countries, 150 Japanese and 150 Chinese visitors who recently completed their visit to Korea, at Incheon International Airport.

It was the first visit to Korea for some 61 percent of the respondents and 75 percent expressed their satisfaction with their first experience of Korea.

Fifty-five percent of the foreign visitors cited hospitality as the most impressive aspect of Seoul, followed by tasty food with 44 percent.

Some 47 percent of the foreigners visited Seoul by way of other major Asian cities such as Tokyo (12 percent) and Beijing (6.3 percent) as well as Singapore and Hong Kong. Sixty-five percent of visitors from English-speaking countries visited Seoul as part of a larger trip of other East Asian cities.

As for public performances, the changing of the royal guard at Toksugung Palace, now presented at City Hall Plaza starting this month, took first place, followed by Nanta, a nonverbal percussion performance.

Seoul City Tour Bus, run by the city government, showed disappointing results as only 12 percent of the surveyed used it. Fifty-five percent of the foreigners said they could not get any information on the bus when asked why they didn’t use the service.

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