Data released by BC Card on May 3 showed that Vietnamese tourists’ per-capita authorised card transactions stood at 197,000 KRW (147.21 USD) each in 2022, 89% more than what they spent in the previous year.
This was higher than 188,000 KRW in card purchases by the second-biggest spender Japanese tourists, 171,000 KRW by Chinese visitors, 126,000 KRW by those from Taiwan (China), and 109,000 KRW by Americans.
For the last three years, Vietnamese spent the most when shopping at duty-free outlets and department stores, as well as on hospital visits and cosmetics in the RoK. In particular, their spending at duty-free stores and department stores last year exploded by 1,837% and 400% year on year, respectively.
This result matched the purposes of Vietnamese tourists when coming to the RoK as surveyed by the Korea Tourism Organisation, namely shopping, food, beauty care, and health care.
