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The demand for tourist facilities shows a sharp increase every year.

Tourist hotels

As of March 2007, 601 tourist hotels nationwide offer a total of 63,221 guestrooms, 52% (i.e. 32,842 guestrooms in 216 hotels) of which are concentrated in Seoul, Busan and Jeju. Recently, the number of the users of deluxe hotels is increasing, apparently as a result of the improvement in income level. The number of inbound visitors is projected to increase to 10 million a year by 2010. In such a case, the country will suffer from a shortage of guestrooms by a margin of about 60,000 guestrooms a day unless measures are taken to supplement the current number of rooms.

Theme parks

It is expected that the number of visitors to theme parks will increase sharply with the adoption of the 5-day workweek system and the launch of the high-speed (KTX) train linking Seoul with Busan and Mokpo. The 14 theme parks are enjoying a thriving business. The number of visitors to those parks comes to 33 million (with 25 million concentrated on the Greater Seoul area). It appears that they are particularly popular among Chinese and Southeast Asians. The number of their facilities needs to be increased.

Casinos and ski slopes

Casinos

As of April 2007, the number of casinos in Korea comes to 17. Only one of them is open to Koreans as well as international visitors. The number of visitors using them comes to 630,000 in 2003, 680,000 in 2004, 570,000 in 2005, and 990,000 in 2006. Sales stood at 398.6 billion won in 2003, 432.3 billion won in 2004, 433.7 billion won in 2005, and 480.9 billion won in 2006 (i.e. an 8.8% increase from 2003, a 0.3% increase from 2004, and a 10.9% from 2005). A foreigner investing not less than $500 million in a tourist facility on Jeju Island is granted a permit for a casino, after meeting some conditions.

Ski slopes

As of 2006, there are 15 ski resorts (8 in Gangwon, 5 in Gyeonggi, 1 in North Chungcheong and 1 in North Jeolla) with a total of 176 slopes. During the 2006-2007 season, 6.02 million people paid visits to them, recording a 7.1% y-o-y increase. The figure is expected to increase to 6.3 million during the 2008-2009 season.

Golf courses

There has been an increase in the number of people playing golf across the nation. The adoption of the 5-day workweek system appears to have been a factor. As of 2006, the number of golf courses in Korea came to 198 (private) plus 65 (public) based on 18-hole ones. There are 85 courses under construction. At the current rate of increase in the number of golfers, 60-plus additional courses should be built by 2010. The number of users of golf courses stands at 19.69 million in 2006, compared to 17.84 million in 2005, and is expected to increase by 28.3% to 25.27 million by 2010.