Overview of coastal and marine tourism in Korea

Abstract

Following the bitter Korean War from 1950-1953, South Korea was closed to both outbound and inbound travellers. South Korea's GDP was less than the average for India at this point and little attention was paid to any travel or recreation by Korean nationals. Nowadays, South Korea's GDP is U$10,076, about 20 times bigger than that of India. The country has leapt from poverty to affluence in less than a generation (Survey of South Korea, 1995). Korea has achieved its highest economic growth over recent years with the concurrent emergence of an affluent middle class. Its average rate of economic growth was 9.7% in 1980-1990, the highest growth rate in the regional Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operative (APEC). According to the Australian Bureau of Industry Economics (1995), it is expected that the Korean economy will continue to grow up to 9 percent annually, even though economic growth was sluggish (5% per annum) at the beginning of the 1990's.