"Foreigners Might Find This Baffling"... Korea Tourism Organization's Top 'Local Favorite Restaurant' in Seoul Is

Four Out of Seoul’s Top Six Are McDonald’s Drive-Thrus on KTO’s “Every Corner of Korea” List
No Consideration of Taste, Ratings, or Local Identity... KTO Acknowledges Discrepancy From “Regional Favorites”

McDonald's has topped the list of 'Local Favorite Restaurants' in Seoul on a domestic tourism information platform operated by the Korea Tourism Organization. The 3rd, 5th, and 6th places are also all McDonald's drive-thru (DT) locations. Contrary to the service name, which suggests a focus on introducing local favorites, the ranking is not determined by food quality or user ratings, but rather by the number of times users enter the destination in their navigation and actually drive to the location.

A view of a McDonald's drive-thru (DT) store in Seoul. McDonald's

On September 23, according to the “Local vs. Visitor Favorite Restaurants Chart” on the Korea Tourism Organization’s “Every Corner of Korea,” the McDonald’s Samseong DT branch ranked first among all local favorites in Seoul for September. The Kangkangsullae Sanggye branch was second, McDonald’s Songpa Jamsil DT branch was third, and Samwon Garden’s main branch came in fourth. McDonald’s also claimed the fifth and sixth spots with its Deungchon DT and Seoul Dunchon DT branches, respectively. In other words, four of the top six are drive-thru locations of the same fast food chain.

A similar trend was observed in Ulsan. According to data received from the Korea Tourism Organization by the office of Assemblywoman Choi Minhee, a member of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee, McDonald’s Ulsan Hogae SK DT branch ranked third among local favorites in Ulsan, while the Ulsan Samsan DT and Ulsan Samsan-ro DT branches ranked fourth and sixth, respectively.

The rationale becomes clear when examining how the rankings are calculated. “Every Corner of Korea” explains that its restaurant chart introduces popular restaurants, cafes, and bakeries by region, based on the previous month’s TMAP navigation data. On a dedicated list screen, it is clarified further as a “big data-driven driver restaurant search ranking,” with a note explaining that, since the data is based on vehicle movement, the rankings may differ from actual visitor numbers.

The specific counting standard is hardly related to a restaurant's 'evaluation.' According to data submitted to Assemblywoman Choi by the Korea Tourism Organization, if a TMAP user selects a particular restaurant as a destination, drives for more than one minute, and moves more than 100 meters, it is counted as one visit. The ranking is not determined by a comprehensive assessment of taste, user ratings, revisit rate, local characteristics, or uniqueness of the food. The rankings are updated on the 8th of every month.

As a result, the current “restaurant chart” is, strictly speaking, closer to a ranking of TMAP users’ routes to restaurant destinations, rather than an assessment of food quality. Restaurants with better vehicle accessibility or that are frequently visited by drivers have an advantage. Notably, all four McDonald’s locations at the top in Seoul are DT branches. Whether drive-thru status boosted their rankings requires additional analysis of each store’s traffic volume and location, but at the very least, the current metrics are based on vehicular movement.

The Korea Tourism Organization's "Every Corner of Korea" features the September 2026 Seoul "Local & Tourist Favorite Restaurant Chart." Among the top 10 local favorites, four are McDonald's Drive-Thru locations, and among the top 10 tourist favorites, three are included. The Tourism Organization explains that this ranking is based on navigation data search rankings and notes that since it is based on vehicle movement, there may be differences from the actual number of visitors. Screenshot from the Korea Tourism Organization website

There is also a disconnect between the way the service is described on-screen and what the actual metric measures. On one screen, the Tourism Organization accurately refers to it as “driver restaurant search ranking,” but the pages that most users encounter instead use phrases like “Local vs. Visitor Favorite Restaurant Chart,” “Top 10 Restaurant Rankings,” and “Restaurants Locals Love to Visit.” This could lead users to interpret the rankings as based on local evaluations or as a representative list of local restaurants.

Not all rankings in every region are dominated by large franchise brands. In the Seoul visitor ranking, Starbucks The Bukhan Mountain branch took first place, followed by Uraeoak’s main branch, Ttosuni’s House Yangpyeong branch, Wondjo Hosu Samgyetang main branch, Jinju House, and Yeongdong Seolleongtang in second to sixth places. McDonald's Samseong DT, Songpa Jamsil DT, and Yangpyeong SK DT branched ranked seventh, ninth, and tenth, respectively. Even with the same data, the outcome varies depending on the region and whether the ranking is for locals or visitors.

The Korea Tourism Organization is aware of the limitations of the current method. According to a review submitted by the Organization to Assemblywoman Choi’s office, the Organization recognizes that, while the current approach is meaningful for tracking visit frequency or usage volume at restaurants, there is a gap between this and the kind of “regional representative restaurants” or unique dining recommendations that tourists are looking for.

Considering the scale of “Every Corner of Korea” users, there have been calls to refine both the naming and the standard for information provided. According to data submitted by the Organization to the assembly office, website visits rose from 46,947,794 in 2024 to 55,977,979 last year. As of August this year, the site recorded 39,600,333 visits. This number refers to overall website visits to “Every Corner of Korea,” not just usage of the restaurant chart.

Assemblywoman Choi Minhee stated, “Restaurants that attract heavy navigation traffic and those that should be introduced as regional representative restaurants for tourists are clearly different concepts,” adding, “It is necessary to improve the selection criteria to reflect local character, uniqueness, and user preferences together.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.