The most frequently requested form of help from foreign tourists visiting Korea is for translation services, a study showed Tuesday.

 

Besides this, visitors also seek information on popular shopping districts, the transportation system and accommodation.

 

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) analyzed some 300,000 calls made to 1330, a 24-hour hotline for foreign tourists operated by the organization, over the past two years. About 38 percent of these calls concerned translation services.

 

More than half sought help in English (57 percent), followed by Chinese (35 percent) and Japanese (7 percent).

 

The most frequently asked question in English was regarding public transportation (34 percent), taxi services (19 percent) and overnight stays (eight percent).

 

In Chinese, almost a third of the inquiries were regarding taxi services (30 percent), followed by shopping district and restaurant location (15 percent) and overnight stays (15 percent.

 

In the case of calls made from a taxi, callers wanted to make sure their driver understood the destination they were planning to reach.

 

Most notable was the increase of inquiries from Chinese tourists which jumped by almost 10 percent from last year, the study added.

 

"Chinese tourists looking for information is increasingly on the rise," a KTO official said.

 

Chinese tourists wanted to go to Myeongdong, the most popular shopping destination made famous by Hallyu stars, the KTO official added.

 

"With a series of Hallyu dramas and TV shows that gained a lot of success with the Chinese people, they want to go to an iconic place where they can feel ‘Koreanness,'"the official said.

 

"It seems that Myeongdong is obviously the most attractive place for them."

 

With a rising number of Chinese tourists, the KTO is planning to increase translators fluent in the language.

 

Out of the 14 million foreigners who visited Korea in 2014, 4.2 million were Chinese. Chinese tourists also spent 3 trillion won ($2.7 billion) while staying here.

 

More than half of them answered that they will re-visit Korea, according to the KTO. 

If you need any Korean translation services, please don't hesitate to contact www.etctrans.com.