Overseas spending down for the first time since 2003

SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Yonhap) -- The sluggish economy and depreciation of the Korean
won caused overseas spending by local travellers to fall this year for the first
time since 2003, the central bank said Monday.
The tally by the Bank of Korea (BOK) showed foreign spending reaching US$10.02
billion in the first eight months of this year, down 6.1 percent from $10.67
billion in the same period in 2007.
It said the drop in numbers marks the first time since January-August, 2003 that
minus growth was reported for travel related expenditure.
South Korean overseas spending has steadily grown over the year jumping 15.7
percent and 27.6 percent annually in 2004 and 2005 respectively, before gaining
16.3 percent in the following year. In 2007, expenditure surpassed the $10
billion mark for the first time.
The BOK then said overseas spending for August plummeted 24.5 percent from an
year earlier to $1.14 billion. The is the sharpest plunge since 1998 when the
country was struggling to cope with Asian financial crisis.
The weakening of the Korean won to the dollar, in addition, caused transfer of
funds for students studying abroad to decline 3.2 percent $3.34 billion up till
August compared to the year before. The decrease is the first in 10 years.
The latest report, meanwhile, said spending by foreign travellers in the same
eight month time frame increased 34.4 percent to $4.96 billion from $3.69
billion.
This it said is the highest gain tallied after numbers soared 45.2 percent in 1998.
Spending by foreigners had gained a mere 2.4 percent in 2006 before slipping 4.4
percent year-on-year in 2007.
"A large influx of foreign travellers from Japan and the United States helped
push up spending, that was also helped by more money being spent by each person,"
said a Korea National Tourism Organization official.