South Korea's government reports its economy is picking up speed in the second quarter. A big reason is more exports — but there's one part of the economy that's still suffering a deficit — and it's an area that's very familiar to residents of Hawaiʻi.
South Korea has a tourism problem.
It's actually a tourism deficit — the number of Koreans traveling overseas is outpacing foreign visitors by a wide margin.
In fact, the Bank of Korea says it's the biggest tourism deficit in five years — nearly $4 billion.
That's mostly because so many Koreans are now traveling overseas — nearly back to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.
But there are also fewer visitors to South Korea — and they're spending less than they used to — especially those coming from China.
The Korean Tourism Organization is continuing to try to grow new markets for visitors.
Just this week the government group opened an office in Riyadh — its first in Saudi Arabia.
Back in South Korea, one travel area that is growing is medical tourism.
That's especially true for the nips and tucks of plastic surgery — as well as skin treatments.
Figures released Wednesday by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare show more than 600,000 foreign citizens traveled to South Korea for medical treatment of some kind in 2023.
That's a new record.
The Health Ministry says more than half of those visitors had plastic surgery or skin treatments.
