[THE INVESTOR] South Korea should reduce its heavy reliance on Chinese tourists and attract other foreign visitors, the central bank said on Sept. 23.

Last year, about 6 million Chinese tourists came to South Korea, accounting for 45.4 percent of 13.2 million foreign visitors, according to the Bank of Korea.

In comparison, 5 million Chinese visited Japan last year, accounting for a quarter of 19.7 million foreign tourists in Japan.

Chinese spending in South Korea also took the lion’s share of the travel account.

South Korea suffered a deficit of US$9.67 billion in the travel account last year, as overseas spending by South Korean tourists exceeded consumption by foreign tourists in South Korea.

Still, South Korea recorded a surplus of $6.97 billion in the travel account when it comes to Chinese tourists, according to the BOK.

The central bank said in a report that South Korea should step up efforts to attract tourists from the Middle East, Taiwan and Hong Kong to try to reduce the country’s heavy reliance on Chinese tourists.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)