South Korea Ranks 12th Worldwide for Tourism... 76th for Tourism Spending, 109th for High-Wage Jobs

Up one place from 2023 in WEF rankings... third in Asia after Japan and China
Tourism sustainability improves from 20th to 13th... seasonality of international tourist arrivals rises from 33rd to 4th
Tourism high-wage jobs rank 109th and government tourism spending 76th... structural weaknesses remain clear

South Korea ranked 12th among 110 countries for its conditions for tourism development, up one place from 2023 and the third-highest ranking in Asia after Japan and China. The country showed strengths in information and communications technology (ICT), transport and cultural resources, and the seasonal distribution of tourism demand. However, tourism policy, price competitiveness, accommodation supply, and the quality of tourism jobs remained weak.

Foreign tourists are walking through the international arrivals hall at Incheon International Airport. South Korea ranked 12th out of 110 countries in the 2025 Travel & Tourism Development Index released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), rising one place from 2023.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute announced on October 8 that South Korea ranked 12th among 110 countries, with an overall score of 4.90, in the 2025 edition of the Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) released by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The Travel & Tourism Development Index compares the conditions in each country for sustainably developing its tourism industry. It consists of 17 pillars across five areas: enabling environment, travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions, infrastructure and services, travel and tourism resources, and travel and tourism sustainability. These areas are measured using 102 individual indicators.

South Korea rose one place from 13th in 2023. As the WEF recalibrated the underlying data and historical values for this assessment, South Korea's 2023 ranking, previously reported as 14th, was recalculated as 13th. Compared with its recalculated 2019 ranking of 14th, the country climbed two places.

Japan ranked first overall, followed by the United States and Spain in second and third place, respectively. Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, China, Switzerland, and Italy followed. South Korea ranked third among 18 Asian countries, after Japan and China, ahead of Singapore (13th), Indonesia (23rd), and Malaysia (26th).

The gap between South Korea and the top 10 was also small. Its overall score of 4.90 was 0.02 points below Italy, which ranked 10th with 4.92, and 0.01 points below Portugal, which ranked 11th with 4.91.

South Korea improved its ranking in all five assessment areas. The biggest improvement was in travel and tourism sustainability, where it rose seven places from 20th in 2023 to 13th. Travel and tourism resources climbed two places from 16th to 14th, while enabling environment ranked 18th, travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions ranked 47th, and infrastructure and services ranked 25th, each up one place.

At the indicator level, digital capabilities and transport and cultural infrastructure emerged as strengths. South Korea ranked first globally for ICT readiness, ninth for ground and port transport infrastructure and non-leisure resources, and 10th for cultural resources. Of the 102 individual indicators, 27 ranked among the global top 10, including six tied for first place.

South Korea ranked 12th among 110 countries in the 2025 Travel & Tourism Development Index released by the World Economic Forum (WEF). It excelled in ICT readiness, ranking first globally, and in the seasonality of international tourist arrivals, ranking fourth. However, it ranked 109th for the share of high-wage jobs in tourism and 76th for tourism spending as a share of the government budget. Source: World Economic Forum and Korea Culture and Tourism Institute.

In particular, the seasonal concentration of inbound tourism demand was found to have eased significantly. South Korea's ranking for the seasonality of international tourist arrivals jumped 29 places from 33rd in 2023 to fourth this year, the largest improvement among all individual indicators. The sustainability of tourism demand also improved, rising from 61st to 42nd, while the regional distribution of tourism demand rose from 85th to 65th.

Despite its overall ranking of 12th, South Korea also had clear weaknesses. Of the 102 individual indicators, 36 ranked 50th or lower, and 34 of these had also ranked 50th or lower in 2019. This suggests that they are structural weaknesses rather than short-term fluctuations.

The weakest area was travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions, where South Korea ranked 47th. It ranked 76th for tourism spending as a share of the government budget, 62nd for the number of air service agreements, and 65th for the reputation of local residents for hospitality. It also ranked outside the top 50 in every indicator related to price competitiveness: 78th for purchasing power parity (PPP), 57th for short-term rental accommodation prices, 55th for fuel prices, and 51st for hotel prices.

The supply base for accommodating tourists was also cited as a weakness. South Korea ranked 69th for the number of hotel rooms relative to its population and 69th for labor productivity in the accommodation and food service sector. It ranked 67th for natural resources, far behind its ranking for cultural resources.

There was also a wide gap between the tourism industry's employment impact and the quality of its jobs. South Korea ranked fifth globally for the tourism employment multiplier, but 109th out of 110 countries for the share of high-wage jobs in the tourism industry, placing it near the bottom. It ranked 88th for hiring and firing practices, 80th for equal employment opportunities, and 75th for workers' rights.

A similar pattern emerged from an analysis by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, which divided the 102 indicators into "tourism indicators," directly related to the tourism industry, and "general indicators," reflecting conditions across the country as a whole. South Korea's average score across 45 tourism indicators was 4.72, just 0.13 points below the average of 4.85 for the world's top 10 countries. South Korea scored higher than the top 10 average on 24 of the 45 indicators.

By contrast, across the 57 general indicators covering areas such as the labor market, the environment, and institutions, South Korea scored 5.08, compared with an average of 5.42 for the top 10 countries, a gap of 0.34 points. This is about 2.6 times the gap for the tourism indicators. The institute said policy-addressable areas, including tourism policy, accommodation and service supply, air accessibility, and the quality of tourism jobs, should be prioritized for improvement, while areas such as the labor market and the environment should be improved over the medium to long term in coordination with relevant ministries.

Kang Jeongwon, director general of tourism policy at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, "We will closely analyze the strengths and weaknesses of K-tourism not only through the overall ranking but also through the results for individual areas and pillars. We will build on areas where we have secured competitiveness and address those that need improvement."

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