South Korea records less than 10,000 monthly visitors since last April
By Violeta Prockyte
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has reported that less than 10,000 travellers a month have visited South Korea since last April when the coronavirus pandemic started.
It’s a massive 99% decline from 1.33m tourists that visited the country in January 2020 before the pandemic.
From April to December, the country welcomed only 9,722 visitors per month. South Korea relies on China for the tourist market, but on average, the country saw only 340 Chinese residents per month. Japanese and Taiwanese visitors each averaged 42 a month. 3,470 people a month came from the US, but it’s attributable to military bases in the country.
Paradise Co Ltd, an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, said in a Wednesday filing that its February casino revenue declined 36.5 percent judged month-on-month. Measured year-on-year, such revenue fell 72.9 percent.
The group’s February casino revenue was just under KRW17.38 billion (US$15.4 million), a decrease on the KRW27.37 billion achieved in January this year, and a even larger decline versus the more than KRW64.10 billion achieved in February 2020.
Paradise Co’s gaming operations are at: Walkerhill in Seoul; Jeju Grand on Jeju Island; Busan Casino in the southern port city of Busan; and Paradise City (pictured in a file photo), in Incheon, near the main international airport serving the country’s capital Seoul.
At a time when casino operators around Asia are either starting to see their fortunes rise or preparing for better days ahead as vaccines begin rolling out across the globe, there is reason for ongoing concern in South Korea. The East Asian nation is home to 17 casinos – eight in Jeju and nine on the mainland – and of those only one, Kangwon Land in remote Gangwon Province, permits locals to gamble. The remaining 16 – of which Paradise Co and Grand Korea Leisure dominate the market – are foreigner-only operations and, as such, at the mercy of international tourism and regional consumer sentiment. Naturally, these 16 casinos have been devastated by COVID-19 and the closure of international borders, with Paradise reporting in late February a loss of almost US$100 million for FY2020. But there were worrying signs even before COVID-19 hit. Paradise, operator of three casinos in Seoul
Paradise Co Ltd, an operator of foreigner-only casinos in South Korea, says its fourth-quarter net loss stood at KRW59.21 billion (US$52.83 million), a 263.3 percent increase from the KRW16.30 billion recorded in the preceding quarter. The company had reported a net loss of nearly KRW9.52 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The casino firm reported earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of KRW6.92 billion for the three months to December 31, compared to a negative result of KRW5.23 billion in the preceding quarter. The firm’s EBITDA was still down 84.2 percent in year-on-year terms.
The company said in a Thursday filing that aggregate sales for the three months to December 31 was KRW104.59 billion, a 15.5 percent improvement sequentially. Such sales were down 61.2 percent from a year earlier.
South Korea’s Paradise Co nears US$100 million loss in 2020 after tough December quarter
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Leading South Korean foreigner-only casino operator Paradise Co has reported a loss of KRW59.21 billion (US$53 million) in 4Q20, pushing the company’s loss for the full year out to a sizeable KRW109.85 billion (US$98.4 million).
The challenging finish to an already difficult year came amid a nationwide tightening of COVID-19 restrictions from November as a third wave of the virus swept across the country. Those restrictions included limits on capacity at most Paradise properties and the closure of its Seoul casino, Paradise Walkerhill, for three weeks from mid-December.