Kang Kyung-hee

The outdoor parking lot of a duty free shop near Gwanghwamun Plaza in downtown Seoul was packed with buses carrying tourists, and I was forced to make a detour. Downtown Seoul was brimming with tourists as Chinese visitors flocked to the capital during their National Day holiday last week. Every time I run into groups of tourists, I become curious about how Seoul and Korea may look in their eyes.

I developed that curiosity after reading a magazine article during a business trip to China two years ago. It was an in-flight magazine published by a Chinese carrier and featured an article about Seoul written by a Chinese journalist. Seoul was depicted as an attractive destination, although the luxury shops in Cheongdam-dong and the four Chosun Dyansty palaces "were not the same as they appeared in TV dramas," the journalist wrote.

Photos of young Koreans walking down the streets of the affluent Gangnam area south of the Han River were described as "trendy and chic as expected," and the article also featured a picture of a police officer that impressed me even though I live in Seoul. I was intrigued by the journalist's perspective of Seoul, approaching it as the backdrop of Korean Wave TV dramas as if it were Paris or New York City.

Last year, 8.8 million foreign tourists visited Korea and more than 6 million so far in the first eight months of this year, raising hopes of 10 million visitors by the end of this year. Tourists began to rise by a million at a time after previous financial crises. Foreign visitors, who totaled just 3 million a year, surpassed 5 million after the 1997 Asian financial crisis and rose past 8 million after the 2008 global financial crisis. The won's weakness turned Korea into a virtual bargain sale for foreigners. But we cannot merely wait until the won weakens for the number of tourists to rise even further.

Last year, a total of 940 million people worldwide visited other countries. The number of tourists, which amounted to just 25 million people 60 years ago, is increasing now that people can get instant updates on events halfway across the globe. Daniel Altman, a former journalist and professor of economics at New York University, wrote in his book, "Outrageous Fortunes: The Twelve Surprising Trends That Will Reshape the Global Economy," that "lifestyle hubs" will replace financial hubs. If centers of finance and commerce were economic hubs in the past, places that draw people will form the hubs of the future. Although Hong Kong and Singapore are the present financial hubs of Asia, then the economic landscape of the region will be reshaped according to which place become the region's lifestyle hub.

But Seoul will become a lifestyle hub only if the people of Seoul draw more and more attention, prompting more Asians to visit the capital, just as New Yorkers and Parisians, who personify the lifestyles of those cities, became role models of urbanites in other countries. The growing popularity of Korean TV shows and K-pop is increasing the attractiveness of Seoul and raising its chances of becoming a lifestyle hub. The sight of smiling Chinese visitors laden with shopping bags and Japanese tourists flocking to locations of Korean soaps and stocking up on Korean cookies and food products suggest possible solutions to revive domestic consumption.

The Seoul mayoral candidates are publicizing their blueprints to develop the capital ahead of the Oct. 26 by-election. Welfare policies are being stressed due to the economic slowdown with belt-tightening measures aimed at distributing more benefits to the public. But none of the candidates is unveiling plans to make the city's economic pie bigger. In times like this, politicians need to look at the bigger picture and use their imagination.

By Kang Kyung-hee from the Chosun Ilbo's News Desk