President Yoon Suk-yeol's Political Drama Bets South Korea's Tourism Industry

JAKARTA - South Korea's tourism sector is facing uncertainty. Plastic surgery clinics, tour companies and hotel chains are wary of the potential impact of a prolonged political crisis, as some overseas tourists canceled their trips following a brief martial law earlier this month.

South Korea's travel and tourism industry generates 84.7 trillion Korean won ($944.6 trillion) by 2023, or about 3.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Prior to this, Korea's tourism industry has overcome various obstacles, including the impeachment of the president in 2016 and periodic tensions with North Korea.

But the martial law decree issued by President Yoon Suk-yeol is said to make the tourism industry wary.

South Korea's tourism sector is actually enjoying a post-pandemic recovery, with tourist arrivals having reached 97 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels as of October 2024.

But citing Reuters, dozens of hospitality and administrative sources said the army's involvement in the latest political crisis was a serious development that could deter tourist and business travel. This can be seen from the signs of canceled visits that have begun to appear in a number of lodgings.

One of them is hotel group Accor, which reported a spike of about five percent in cancellations in early December compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, several plastic surgery clinics in Gangnam admitted that cancellations from foreign patients showed the real impact of this political crisis.

“There are concerns that safety issues in Seoul will have an adverse impact on the tourism industry,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said while meeting tourism industry officials to discuss the decline in travel demand.

“There are more and more instances of foreign tourists canceling visits to Seoul and shortening their visit time,” Oh continued, before emphasizing ‘Seoul is safe’ in English, Chinese, and Japanese to the media.

Cancellations on the Rise

South Korea is in the spotlight following Yoon Suk-yeol's six-hour martial law decree before the president was impeached by the National Assembly on Saturday (14/12/2024). This was the second impeachment attempt, after the first one on December 4 failed.

This hot and cold period in South Korea has been characterized by various protests from citizens. Looking back, this is actually not the first time South Korea has experienced political tension. In 2016 for example, when the country's first female president, Park Geun-hye was impeached by parliament.

She was ousted from power because she was accused of receiving or soliciting tens of millions of US dollars from conglomerates, including Samsung. President Park was also accused of distributing classified documents, blacklisting critical artists, and firing officials who opposed her.

Not only that, South Korea's domestic politics are also often volatile depending on their relationship with North Korea. But so far they have managed to get through various difficult moments.

But military engagements like the one later this year are raising new concerns in the tourism sector. Some travelers have canceled their bookings, although the number is not too large, while others are still monitoring the situation there.

The Korea Tourism Start-Up Association said bookings for the first half of 2025 from foreign tourists showed a sharp decline. This suggests a long-term impact if the political crisis continues without a clear resolution.

Hotel rooms in the capital that were initially declared full are now becoming available due to cancellations by some travelers. Some hotels were even forced to “lower their rates and offer some special deals to attract potential travelers,” said a travel agent who declined to be named.

A plastic surgery clinic in Gangnam also indicated the same. They said some foreign patients have canceled their visits since the martial law incident.

“We are not worried at the moment, but if the situation continues, it will have an impact on foreign tourists,” said a clinic representative.

Soft Power

The South Korean government has repeatedly emphasized that daily life and tourist activities have continued as usual since the impeachment attempt was made earlier this month. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also ensured that the region was safe and he expressed this in three languages, English, Chinese and Japanese to the media.

South Korea's reputation as a global culture is indeed at stake. The wave of Korean culture - including K-Pop, K-dramas and cosmetics - is the main form of soft power that the government uses to increase the number of tourists.

However, recent political tensions have the potential to dim that appeal. The government has an ambitious target to bring in 30 million tourists by 2027. This target could be jeopardized if political stability is not restored soon.

However, some analysts believe the long-term impact can be minimized if the crisis is resolved.

“If we can get through this unprecedented period in a clear direction to new elections, I don't think the impact will be so bad,” said Andrew Gilholm of Control Risk Group.

He also said that the country's reputation might improve in the future by showing how Korea went through this series of problems.

Su Shu, founder of Chinese travel agency Moment Travel, also said the same thing about the demand for travel to Korse. He believes interest in South Korea remains high despite temporary concerns.

“Wherever there is chaos, there will be people who dare not go,” Su said.

China is the highest source of foreign tourists in South Korea, followed by Japan and the United States.