Seoul Cheonggyecheon Cheonggye Plaza features a 'Wishing Stone'. The oval stone structure, measuring 36 cm in width and 76 cm in length, allows visitors to toss coins into it while wishing for good luck.
However, on the afternoon of the 8th, there were no foreign tourists around the Wishing Stone tossing lucky coins.
Santiago, 56, from Spain, said, "Is this the place where you toss lucky coins? No one told me about it, so I had no idea." Mayu, 45, originally from Indonesia, also noted, "If I had known there was a Wishing Stone, I would have brought some coins…" A Korean tour guide accompanying Mayu's group of tourists remarked, "I have hardly seen anyone tossing coins here."
On this day, of the 9 groups of foreign tourists observed, only one group tossed lucky coins into the Wishing Stone.
Although the number of foreign tourists has returned following COVID-19, the foreign coins tossed into the Cheonggyecheon Wishing Stone have not increased. This situation has been analyzed to involve three factors: 'insufficient promotion', 'decrease in Chinese tourists', and 'cashless society'.
◇ Foreign tourist numbers recovering to pre-COVID levels… Lucky coins amount to one-sixth
The Cheonggyecheon Wishing Stone was installed in 2008. To date, a total of 448,087,403 won in Korean coins and 390,995 foreign coins have been collected. The year with the highest coin collection was 2014, when 63 million won and 83,000 foreign coins were tossed into the Wishing Stone.
However, the number of lucky coins collected at the Wishing Stone has sharply declined since COVID-19. Domestic coins fell from 25 million won in 2019 to 3.96 million won in 2020, and have remained around 3 million won per year since then.
Similarly, foreign coins, primarily tossed by foreign tourists, have also declined. In 2019, 18,384 pieces were collected, but this decreased to 2,537 in 2020. The annual count has remained around 3,300 since then.
After the end of the pandemic, the number of foreign tourists has recovered to past levels, but the foreign coins at the Cheonggyecheon Wishing Stone remain at one-sixth of their previous count. In 2019, there were 17.5 million foreign tourists, which dropped to 2.51 million in 2020 and 960,000 in 2021. However, the numbers are quickly increasing to 3.19 million in 2022, 11.03 million in 2023, and 16.37 million in 2024.
◇ 'Insufficient promotion', 'decrease in Chinese tourists', 'cashless society' as causes
Analysis indicates that there are three main causes for this situation. Firstly, 'insufficient promotion'. Foreign tourists met at the site on the 8th said they either did not see the Wishing Stone itself or did not come across any related information boards. Although three signs indicating the Wishing Stone are placed on the floor of the Cheonggyecheon promenade and on both walls of Cheonggyecheon, they did not catch the attention of foreign tourists. A person surnamed Lee, 33, passing by the Wishing Stone also stated, "I work near Cheonggyecheon, but I have never heard that there is a place to toss lucky coins."
Additionally, the 'decrease in Chinese tourists' is also cited as a reason. A representative from the Seoul Facilities Corporation, which manages the lucky coins, noted in a conversation with ChosunBiz, "The proportion of Chinese tourists among foreign tourists tossing lucky coins was high, but their numbers have significantly decreased since the 'Korean Wave' sanctions imposed by China in 2017."
Chinese tourists exceeded 8 million in 2016, but dropped to 4.17 million in 2017. Although it increased to 4.6 million last year, this remains at only 60% of the pre-sanctions level.
Moreover, the trend towards a 'cashless society' can also be seen as a contributing factor. A representative from the Seoul Facilities Corporation commented, "As mobile fintech has developed, there is also the aspect that coins have disappeared. As people no longer carry coins around, even if they want to toss coins into the Wishing Stone, they cannot do so."
Meanwhile, the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy, known for tossing lucky coins, collected 1.4 million euros (approximately 2.07 billion won) in 2022 and 1.6 million euros (approximately 2.37 billion won) in 2023.