As many as 574,000 Chinese visitors made the trip over to close neighbour Korea, which makes up 45% of all foreign tourists, according to the report, with over half of these women.
The report featured statistics from the South Korean financial investment and tourism information system, and noted that Chinese enthusiasm for Korean cosmetics was not limited only to incoming tourists, with exports to China also accounting for 54.7% of total Korean beauty exports.
Driving growth
The new figures come as a key example of the ever-growing popularity, both internationally and domestically, of South Korean beauty brands.
According to new data recently released by market research firm Euromonitor International, the country’s beauty market growth is now being driven mainly by domestic brands.
“Domestic players showed a great performance in 2013,” note analysts. “With new products, they expanded value share in both mass and premium brands.”
“On the other hand, global players mostly showed weak performance by recording negative growth or stagnation,” they observe.
In particular, Amorepacfic has been a major success story over in China since it began its major push to court consumers there in 2011. It has said it is confident of reaching its $626 million sales target there by the end of 2015.
Strengthening bonds
A recent visit by the Chinese President Xi Jinping to South Korea is expected to make further progress towards a free trade pact between the two countries that is likely to benefit the cosmetics and personal care sectors.
The talks on free trade between the two countries were first started in May 2012, and so far there have been 11 formal discussions, with the 12th round expected to take place later this month.
If lobbying from the South Korean industry is successful, key Korea players such as Amore Pacific, The Face Shop and LG Household & Health Care, will be looking to ensure that their products can be marketed in China with a lower tariff, facilitating sales growth.