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View Poll Results: Can Seoul match Tokyo and Hong Kong as a Travel Destination?
Yes 42 56.76%
No 32 43.24%
Voters: 74. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 01-20-2014, 07:14 PM
 
89 posts, read 201,614 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lokeung) View Post
South Korea will continue to rise like China, still plenty of rooms for improvement even it is already an asian tiger before the Chinese economic reform. Japan's growth has been slow since the 90's. Koreans are generally better than the Japanese in english. South Korea really started to rise in prominence lately with the global Korean Wave and Korean brands.

Seoul, Tokyo and HK have different policies and development on tourism. Mainland Chinese visitors are the increasing and most lucurative source of all cities. Korean culture is far more popular than Japanese culture in Mainland China, both China and Korea are anti-Japanese, Seoul will receive a lot more mainland chinese tourists than tokyo.
The global Korean Wave maybe have great influence on the further development of its tourism. Many young people who make track for Korean star or are very addicted to its soap operas are eager to travel South korea, specially for Seoul.
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Old 01-20-2014, 07:34 PM
 
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Abby Daisy View Post
The global Korean Wave maybe have great influence on the further development of its tourism. Many young people who make track for Korean star or are very addicted to its soap operas are eager to travel South korea, specially for Seoul.
I think Korean tourism within Asia at least is definitely picking up. I remember seeing 'visit Korea' ads all over Singapore.
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Old 09-28-2019, 02:10 PM
 
1,136 posts, read 512,095 times
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Yes due to high number of English and Mandarin Chinese speakers in Seoul. More fluent than Tokyo's. Seoul is more easy to travel for English and Chinese speaking foreigners than cities in Japan.
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Old 10-03-2019, 12:46 AM
 
Location: Plano, TX
89 posts, read 65,291 times
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I say no. People outside of Asia typically aren't going to travel to Seoul unless they have a specific reason to. Tokyo and HK are world class and attract visitors from across the globe. Seoul is not there just yet but definitely picking up steam.

HK & Tokyo have the advantage of huge financial sectors that attract a lot of business travelers and familiarity with the regions.
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Old 10-03-2019, 09:35 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sadgirl80 View Post
Seoul is a very pleasant city to visit. Civility on par with Tokyo but significantly less pricey.

No, the civility doesn't come anywhere close to Tokyo IMO. Koreans are cool to cold to foreign visitors at best. At worst, outright hostile. Japanese people OTOH are unfailingly gracious and have much more of a live and let live type of approach to life.



I still like Seoul and think it's a cool city but, based on experience, there's a lot of anti-American vibes right now in South Korea and it's getting worse.
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Old 10-03-2019, 10:31 AM
 
Location: Howard County, Maryland
16,355 posts, read 10,363,550 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eucalyptic View Post
No, the civility doesn't come anywhere close to Tokyo IMO. Koreans are cool to cold to foreign visitors at best. At worst, outright hostile. Japanese people OTOH are unfailingly gracious and have much more of a live and let live type of approach to life.



I still like Seoul and think it's a cool city but, based on experience, there's a lot of anti-American vibes right now in South Korea and it's getting worse.
I visited Korea in 2017, and my experience was totally opposite from yours. I found the Koreans I encountered to be friendly and welcoming to me, someone who is quite obviously an American. And there was so much English signage and so many people who spoke English that that I found it to be no problem to get around, even though I can only read and speak Korean at a preschool level, if that. I’ve never been to Tokyo or Hong Kong so I can’t compare them, but I loved Seoul and I would jump at the chance to go back.

As for tourism potential, I think that Seoul is greatly underrated and has loads of potential to increase its draw. Will it meet Tokyo or Hong Kong levels? I have no way to make an educated guess on that. But given all that Seoul has to offer, I think it’s at least possible. In particular, I think it would be a strong choice for people who have already visited Tokyo and Hong Kong and would like to experience something else in Asia.
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Old 10-03-2019, 01:20 PM
 
Location: Yokohama, Japan
153 posts, read 107,217 times
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As someone who lives in Tokyo and has visited Seoul (and Hong Kong) before, I would say Seoul cannot stand up to Tokyo or Hong Kong. Seoul and Tokyo are somewhat similar, but honestly, Seoul seemed like a lower quality, cheaper version of Tokyo with a lot of the same type of attractions. I had an alright time there during my week stay, and many Koreans told me to go to Busan instead for a more "authentic", interesting Korean experience. Food and cleanliness are much better in Tokyo, however I found the Koreans to be much more open and friendly than Japanese. Train systems were about the same, maybe better in Seoul, with the station layouts being better in Seoul (I liked the fact that they tell you what is at each stop, and what is outside each exit). Korea became developed much more recently than Japan, and because of this, Seoul still has a bit of that rugged appeal, and felt more "Asian" so to speak.
Hong Kong, however, wins against both Tokyo and Seoul in terms of tourist attractions in my opinion, but I can't imagine living there, especially now with the sketchy situation down there.
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Old 10-03-2019, 03:21 PM
 
27 posts, read 38,924 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sadgirl80 View Post
Seoul is a very pleasant city to visit. Civility on par with Tokyo but significantly less pricey.

I agree, though Tokyo is much cleaner.
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Old 10-03-2019, 03:28 PM
 
Location: Howard County, Maryland
16,355 posts, read 10,363,550 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TonKatsu View Post
I agree, though Tokyo is much cleaner.
I was very impressed with how clean Seoul was, when I visited. I have trouble imaging any major city being “much” cleaner than it was. All the more reason for me to put Tokyo on my “must visit” list.
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Old 10-03-2019, 03:47 PM
 
Location: Honolulu
1,708 posts, read 1,133,147 times
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Tokyo and Seoul are different travel products. They also vary greatly. In fact, most of the time I travel to both places on the same trip. Usually Japan first then followed by Korea. The reason is Japanese food is more delicate while Korean food is more spicy. If you go Korea first, your tongue will be numb when you go to Japan.

During Cherry Blossom time, you can tell their principal difference. In Shinjuku Gyeon of Tokyo, their Cherry Blossom last much longer -- usually over a month because they got so many varieties of Cherry Blossom. Most of them are manicured.

In Yeouido of Seoul, hundreds of Cherry Blossom trees line up on both sides of the Boulevard between the Parliament and the Han River. It is of one single variety and not manicured. They grow tall and usually last for just two weeks.

Both Koreans and Japanese are crazy about this short span and seems everyone comes out. I don't see Chinese will be that crazy for certain flowers. And the ways that Japanese and Koreans handle the Cherry Blossom somewhat tell about their characters.
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