Tourism in Seoul City: Overview, Factors, Roles, and Sustainability

TOURISM AT SEOUL CITY.
Tourism in Seoul city.
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TOURISM AT SEOUL CITY.
Seoul city is one of the major cities in South Korea (the Republic of Korea). It is the capital city
of the country and a major tourism attraction center for many tourists worldwide. Tourism in
South Korea in the past was not considered an important activity. This was as a result of the
economic difficulties, government restrictions and Koreans war that made it hard for people to
move to new places. Most people were allowed to move overseas on government business and
technical training, thus tourism was mainly carried out locally. In around 1980s, traveling abroad
begun to be free in the country which marked a major foreign tourism into the country.
According to the Korea tourism organization (2013), both domestic and international tourism
contributed to about krw26.7 trillion to the country and supports about 607500 jobs which make
tourism very important in Korea (hunter, 2016, p.224). Tourism sector plays a critical role in
development of many nations’ economy. Many countries have used all the efforts available to
ensure to tourism sector in the country is well marketed. Tourism is associated with various
benefits which helps the country to balance terms of trade due to foreign income gained. This
essay will critically analyze the overview of tourism in Seoul city, factors that have contributed
to tourism development in the city, major roles played by tourism and the evidence of sustainable
tourism in the country.
Tourism development in Seoul city is attributable to the major fascinating sites in the city since
ancient times such as the Korean popular culture “Korean wave”, the gyeongbokgung which is
the main palace of the Koreas last royal dynasty –the Joseon dynasty. Such features have enabled
many tourists from all over the world to visit the city. The heunginjimun gate which is known as
the east gate is located in the center of Korea fashion and is believed that if someone dresses
nicely for the gate they will get good luck, thus it has been a center of tourists’ destination in the
city (shim, and santos, 2014, p.111). Every individual in this word needs good luck. South Korea

TOURISM AT SEOUL CITY.
has since hosted many events such as the 1988 summer Olympics, 1993 Taejon expo, 2002 FIFA
world cup jointly with Japan and 2005 APEC conference.
Seoul city is located in a continent that boasts of large population in the world. Many visitors
visit the continent and Seoul being one of the most popular cities benefits as most diplomatic
conferences and meetings are hosted in the city. This has made Seoul city one of the best tourist
attraction sites in the world. Seoul city has developed facilities which has helped in promoting
tourism in the city. Unlike other cities in the world, Seoul city enjoys availability of natural
tourism attraction sites and this has helped the city to compete favorably with other cities in the
world.
The world cup marketed Seoul city and South Korea as a major tourist attraction destination to
the world. Seoul city can best be explained by the butler's model of tourism. In reference to the
theory, the center started with a small number of tourists, local residents of South Korea become
involved in the tourism sector serving as local tourists early before the country could open its
activities internationally (shim, and santos, 2014, p.111). The extensive development in the
transport sector and today it has become a major tourist attraction in the world. Seoul city is a
tourist destination region (TDR) in the whole tourism system model (WAS). This is evidenced
by the major tourist attraction centers in the city which includes the namsan Seoul tower, the
Seoul city wall and best restaurant for the tourists. Climate is one of the major factors that have
put Seoul city in the eyes of many tourists (Weaver, and lawton, 2013, p.172). The wet and very
humid climate during summer season, cold and dry weather of winters and the pleasant spring
and autumn makes the city a major tourist attraction. People who do not have the opportunity of
having such good weather conditions frequent the city for leisure purposes.

TOURISM AT SEOUL CITY.
There various factors which helped to improve tourism activities in Seoul city. They include; the
city’s economy serves as the whole Asian culture and being the capital of South Korea, attract
major business. As the capital city of South Korea, the city hosts various diplomats and
diplomatic conferences and meetings (lee, and bai, 2016, p.164). Such conferences and meetings
attract the high number of people visiting the city. After the conferences, the diplomats will be
given a tour of various tourists’ attraction sites and the status of being the capital city of South
Korea has also played a critical role in promoting tourism in the city.
It is a major business hub comprising of headquarters of major technology companies in the
world such as Samsung and LG. This attracts more visitors to the city. Business people frequent
the city so as to purchase goodies for their businesses at cheap prices (chiu, et al. 2016, p.226).
Such a company attracts many tourists as people come to see the giant companies which have
dominated the world in terms of electronics products. The city also attracts many people who
come for job opportunities in the existing multinational corporations in the city.
There are many financial institutions in the city such as the standard chartered bank, Citigroup
and the exchange bank of Korea (gretzel, et al. 2015, p.182). This offers an ideal environment for
foreigners to visit and invest. Financial institutions enable easy payments of goods and services.
The financial institutions have a worldwide presence and due to customer loyalty, many people
visit the city so as to carry out various transactions. Financial institutions enable easy conversion
of one currency to different currencies and this helps in business transactions (moon, et al. 2013,
p. 57). International financial institutions located in the city also provide credit facilities to
tourists in case of emergencies, this helps tourists to have access to credit services which will
enable them to pay for different services in the city.