방한 외국인 관광객의 다목적지 여행 결정

Multi-destination Travel Decisions by International Tourists to Korea

While Korean tourism authorities have made various efforts to decentralize more international tourists to Korea, the substantial majority of tourists are known to visit limited tourism destinations including Seoul and the capital area. This study aims to examine how several factors representing sociodemographic and travel characteristics of international tourists are associated with their multi-destination travel behaviors. Using the 2012 International Visitor Survey data, this study also intends to identify the underlying betweengroup diversity in international tourists, which are segmented by their cultural background. With a series of count data model estimations, the results of this study suggest that the multi-destination travel decisions of international tourists are affected by different travel features including travel information sources, and travel companion types, as well as several socio-demographic information, such as age, and education levels. The study results also indicate meaningful behavioral differences in multi-destination travel patterns among international tourists from Asian and Western countries. Based on these findings, this study discusses useful policy suggestions and marketing strategies to decentralize the international travel clientele.