Chinese tourists’ credit card spending in Korea recorded 4.3 trillion won ($3.93 billion) in the first half of 2016, a more than fivefold increase compared to the same period in 2012, a report showed Thursday.

Among foreign visitors’ card expenditures, the Chinese spending accounted for 62 percent, up more than 30 percent from 2012, according to the joint report by Korea Culture & Tourism Institute and Shinhan Card big data center.


The largest Yuan spending was for shopping, at 2.4 trillion won. This formed nearly 60 percent of total Chinese expenditures this year. Consumptions on accommodations and food reached 978 billion won and 422 billion won, respectively.

By region, the amount of spending in Seoul accounted for the largest share at 72 percent, or 3.1 trillion won. Jejudo and Gyeonggi Province followed, the report added.

An expert said China’s now all-grown-up “little emperors,” a generation that is the product of China’s “one-child” policy, contributed to the increase in visitors from China. Such a Chinese-led uptick is “forecast to continue as long as the young generations favor Korea,” the expert added.

Meanwhile, spending by Japanese and American visitors ranked second and third, with 977 billion won and 599.1 billion won, respectively.

By Song Ji-won (jiwon.song@heraldcorp.com)