A survey of about 1,200 foreign travelers to Korea, jointly conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) earlier this year, also showed that about 56.2 percent used Naver's map service for transportations and navigation information. The figure surpasses that of Google Maps, which was 33.9 percent.
When asked which app was most satisfying during their stay in Korea, 27.8 percent of respondents chose Naver, followed by Papago at 9.9 percent and Google Maps at 6.3 percent.
They praised Naver for providing various types of information within a single app (54.2 percent), its user-friendly interface (52 percent), and its support for multiple languages (43.4 percent). Respondents were allowed to give multiple answers.
According to the KTO, the number of foreign visitors to Korea during the first seven months of this year stood at 9.11 million, a nearly 70 percent increase from the same period last year.
Naver's map service, available in multiple languages including Chinese, English, and Japanese since 2018, enables foreign users to easily access various information and its coverage has recently been further expanded.
"We will improve the app with additional features by the second half of this year to make it even more convenient for foreign users," said a Naver staffer.
