SEOUL // In the bustling shopping district of Myeongdong in South Korea's capital, visitors from neighbouring countries have become so common that stores have for many years now displayed signs in Chinese and Japanese.
On a recent autumn afternoon, tourists from China and Japan moved among stores in the popular retail area, which has shops ranging from the high street names such as Zara to pricey designer labels including Louis Vuitton and Chanel, located near stalls selling street food and stuffed toys.
To make the shopping experience even easier for the visitors, virtually every store has staff who are fluent in the Asian languages.
"I'm in Korea for five days for shopping," says Sarah Yi, 32, from Guangdong. The chief financial officer for a company in China was shopping for cosmetics with a store assistant at her side, explaining various products in Cantonese. For her next trip, Ms Yi wants to travel to Paris, while the shopping destination of Dubai is also on her radar.
"The Chinese are rising as the new tourist," says Heung-sik Kim, a deputy director at Seoul's city government. "They're getting richer and spending more money on leisure and travelling. They start travelling to countries that are nearer and then they go further afield. Last year, Japan was the largest market for tourists to Seoul. Now China is expected to be number one this year."
This is all part of a boom in Asian tourism, spearheaded by China and predicted to last for decades.
The number of international tourists from Asia and the Pacific is expected to increase from more than 204 million last year to 541 million by 2030, according to new forecasts by the UN World Tourism Organization.
That means that an additional 17 million tourists on average are expected to travel from the Asia-Pacific region every year over the next two decades. Last year, the number of Chinese hotel guests staying in Abu Dhabi grew by 29 per cent, according to the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, while in Dubai the number of Chinese guests was up 18 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with last year's first quarter, data from Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing shows.
"Last year, fast growth was recorded in all three markets of domestic, inbound and outbound travels, including 2.1 billion tourist [trips] in the domestic travel market," says Jiang Du, the vice chairman of China's national tourism administration. "There were 57 million outbound tourists, up by 20 per cent."
Mr Kim says Koreans are also spending more than ever before on foreign travel.
"Young people in particular want to experience the world," he says.
The number of South Korean hotel guests in Abu Dhabi more than doubled in the first four months of this year, compared with the same period last year, with increased business between the Emirates and South Korea and the launch of Etihad Airways flights to Seoul in December cited as factors in the surge.
In the first four months of this year, 2,839 South Koreans stayed in Abu Dhabi's hotels and hotel apartments, up 118 per cent on the same period last year, according to the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.
This prompted the authority to design a Korean version of its consumer website and send a delegation to South Korea's main tourism exhibition for the first time in June.
Along with China, India is a huge growth market that is feeding increasing numbers of tourists to the UAE.
"Our outbound has been increasing very fast," says Devesh Chaturvedi, the additional director general of India's ministry of tourism.
rbundhun@thenational.ae
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
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The currency conundrum
Russ Mould, investment director at online trading platform AJ Bell, says almost every major currency has challenges right now. “The US has a huge budget deficit, the euro faces political friction and poor growth, sterling is bogged down by Brexit, China’s renminbi is hit by debt fears while slowing Chinese growth is hurting commodity exporters like Australia and Canada.”
Most countries now actively want a weak currency to make their exports more competitive. “China seems happy to let the renminbi drift lower, the Swiss are still running quantitative easing at full tilt and central bankers everywhere are actively talking down their currencies or offering only limited support," says Mr Mould.
This is a race to the bottom, and everybody wants to be a winner.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Jawan
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10 tips for entry-level job seekers
- Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
- Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
- Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
- Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
- Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
Summer special
The Uefa Awards winners
Uefa Men's Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Uefa Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze (Lyon)
Best players of the 2018/19 Uefa Champions League
Goalkeeper: Alisson (Liverpool)
Defender: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Midfielder: Frenkie de Jong (Ajax)
Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Uefa President's Award: Eric Cantona
