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South Korea SERVICE INDUSTRIES
Service industries included insurance, restaurants, hotels,
laundries, public bath houses, health-related services, and
entertainment establishments. There were thousands of small shops
marketing specialized items, large traditional marketplaces, and
streamlined buildings housing corporate and professional offices.
Game rooms featuring Ping-Pong tables, or billiards, and tearooms
serving a variety of beverages were located on almost every
downtown city corner.
South Korea's Hosting the 1988 Seoul Olympics from September
18 to October 2, 1988, made 1988 a boom year for tourism. More
than 2 million tourists spent US$3.3 billion, an increase in the
number of tourists and the dollars spent, respectively, of 24.9
percent and 42.2 percent over 1987. Japanese visitors accounted
for 48 percent of the total; tourists from the United States made
up 14.9 percent. The Korean National Tourist Corporation
predicted that in 1990 almost 3 million tourists would visit the
country.
An improved transportation and communications infrastructure,
increasing incomes, enhanced consumer sophistication, and
government tax incentives encouraged the development of a modern
distribution network of chain stores, supermarkets, and
department stores
(see Transportation and Telecommunications
, this ch.).
In the mid-1980s, the largest employer of South Korea's
service sector was retail trade. A growing number of workers were
employed by the mostly department stores (most of which were
owned by chaebol) that were opening rapidly in the
downtown areas of major urban centers. The vast majority of
retailers were small merchants in cities, towns, and villages,
each with a modest storefront, or stand, limited stock, and poor
access to capital, but the great majority of South Koreans made
their purchases from these small retailers. In 1986 there were
approximately 26,054 wholesale and 542,548 retail establishments
and 233,834 hotels and restaurants that employed about 1.7
million people (these figures probably do not include family
members working in small stores).
The distribution system was far from perfect, and managers
recognized the need for better organization and management. Most
of the nation's wholesalers were located in Seoul and accounted
for most of the turnover of goods. Most of the sales outlets were
located in the heart of urban centers. Cargo truck terminals and
warehouse facilities were spread irregularly through city
neighborhoods.
Data as of June 1990
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