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As of the end of last year, the Daechi 1-dong area of southern Seoul had the highest concentration of private crammers, while the Jongno area in the downtown district of the capital had the highest concentration of restaurants. The numbers come from a survey of 3,554 townships, counties and villages across the country. The number of private crammers and travel-related businesses increased last year, while the number of small restaurants and hostels dropped.
The National Statistical Office announced the statistics on Sunday as part of a comprehensive survey conducted between March 17 an April 9 on all businesses in Korea employing at least one person.
¡ß Jongno for restaurants, Daechi-dong for crammers
The main restaurant area in Korea was the Jongno 1-ga to 4-ga districts. That¡¯s where no fewer than 1,114 restaurants are clustered. Yeoksam 1-dong in the Gangnam district of southern Seoul came in second in terms of the greatest concentration of restaurants, with 1,060 of them.
The area with the highest concentration of private crammers was Daechi 1-dong, also in Gangnam, with 201. Yeoksam 1 Dong also ranked first in the country in terms of the numbers of estate agents with 340.
¡ß Shillim-dong for Internet cafes, Shinsa-dong for hospitals
Internet cafes are usually clustered around university housing areas. Shillim 9-dong in Gwanak-gu still ranked highest in terms of the concentration of Internet cafes, with 70 of them, although that was 10 fewer than last year. Dongjak-gu Noryangjin 1-dong, where many private institutes are located, was home to 53 Internet cafes ranking fifth in terms of the concentration.
Shinsa-dong in Gangnam was home to 235 hospitals and medical clinics, overtaking Yeoksam 1-dong as the area with the highest concentration of hospitals and clinics in the country. Last year alone, 30 new hospitals and clinics opened in Shinsa-dong.
¡ß Small ventures down, travel agencies up
A slowdown in private consumption has led to a drop in the number of hostels and restaurants, which had been the most popular start-ups until now. The number of bars, which include night clubs and posh drinking establishments, as well as small and affordable restaurants, such as noodle and dumpling stores, dropped 2.2 percent.
In contrast, as more and more Koreans travel overseas, the number of travel agencies or travel-related businesses rose 5.9 percent, while a rise in the number of double-income families led to an 11.3 percent increase in the numbers of social service businesses, including daycare centers. Reflecting the strong interest in learning foreign languages and education in general, the numbers of foreign language institutes and other private institutes rose steeply. The number of foreign language institutes rose 24.6 percent to 12,829, while other private institutes rose 8.1 percent to 36,840.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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