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Although the country¡¯s image and domestic IT brand power rose due to the 2002 World Cup, there was no increase in domestic demand or exports as was expected, evaluated domestic enterprises. Research on 504 workers of domestic companies released Sunday by the Federation of Korean Industries showed that 88.1% said elevation of the country's confidence level and uplifted international brand image were positive effects of the World Cup.
However, only 1.2% said they saw an increase of domestic consumption and 9.4% increased exports, much less than first expected and showing the World Cup did not lead to direct economic results.
Im Sang-hyuk, director of the intellectual economics team at the FKI said tourism income was low with only 50,000 Chinese tourists, half of what was anticipated. Im said the cheering fever and other factors led to a 5% decrease in the sales of department stores and discount marts compared to the previous month. He added that along with regional elections, labor disputes, the value increase of the won and shortened work hours because of the World Cup, the surplus rates of exports decreased in June as well.
On the other hand, many selected wireless LAN services in the stadiums (30.4%) and embodiment of IMT-2000 at the opening ceremony (25.9%) as factors that greatly highlighted the image of Korea¡¯s IT industry during the World Cup.
(Choi Hong-sup, hschoi@chosun.com )
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