Korea doing well

Language and destination trends
The USA remains the most popular destination for Korean students and this country increased its market share on last year from 34 per cent to 39 per cent. The UK, Canada and Australia remained in the same respective positions of second, third and fourth most requested, while in fifth position, the Philippines increased its popularity as a language travel destination. English remained the most requested language (by 90 per cent of clients), followed by Japanese again, and then Chinese and Spanish. However, requests for German were not noted this year although German notched up one per cent demand last year (see Language Travel Magazine, August 2005, pages 16-17).

Student and course trends
General and intensive courses continued to account for around two-thirds of the courses booked for agency clients, despite the academic motivations of many Korean students. Indeed, 40 per cent were reported to be studying a language to aid their further studies overseas and nine per cent to help their studies at home. However, 37 per cent were learning a language to aid their future work prospects. Only three per cent of clients were said to be studying for pleasure, as opposed to 12 per cent in Switzerland, for example (see Language Travel Magazine, June 2005, pages 14-15).

Agency business
The most popular route for finding new partners remained attending fairs and expos, followed by the Internet this year – in second position for the first time (up from 11 per cent to 25 per cent). In third position was Language Travel Magazine and Education Travel Magazine and then workshops. When it comes to recruiting students, word-of-mouth recommendation was the most useful method employed, with an agency';s website in second position, attracting just over one-quarter of clients on average. Agencies worked in the last 12 months with an average of 169 different institutions around the world.

Looking ahead
There is mixed opinion about what the rest of the year and beyond will bring. One agency pointed out that demand for academic preparation programmes will continue to rise as basic English skills are increasingly learnt at a younger age, with more short-term junior camps now available in Korea. Some agencies felt a slowdown in the economy might put the brake on bookings, or that competition in the marketplace would mean steady business at best. Other agencies, particularly those with marketing plans and ideas to improve their website, were confident about the future.

South Korea';s economy grew by 1.3% in the first quarter of 2006, out-performing expecta- tions as consumer spending increased and exports reached a record high. However, econo- mists believe that growth may slow during the rest of the year, given that the value of the won is rising, impacting on export earnings.

However, the government forecasts that the economy in South Korea will grow by 5% overall this year and the IMF has revised its forecast from 5% to 5.5%.

Consumer spending has been rebounding since a two-year slump in 2003 and 2004.

Sources: Bloomberg/Wall Street Journal.

Thank you to the following agencies for taking part in our survey: CampusOK, Doori Institute, iAE Edu Net Eduhouse, KAMC, Language Bank, Overseas Education and Culture Centre of Korea, Paran Uhak Agency, People Loving Education, Top Educational Counselling House, Uhak.com, UhakFocus.