Why International Tourists May Miss Your Business on Naver

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When we speak with owners hoping to welcome international customers, a familiar situation comes up. Their descriptions, menus, photographs and review replies are carefully maintained—but all on Naver.

Those preparations serve Korean customers well. They may still miss the screens through which an international visitor first discovers places to go.

Naver is used, but the moment of use matters

International visitors do use Naver. The distinction is when and why.

KTO's travel-app study surveyed 1,232 inbound visitors between October 31 and December 6, 2023, with findings released in March 2024. In its transport and navigation results, Naver Map usage was 56.2%, higher than Google Maps at 33.9%.

Separating the stages of travel shows a different pattern:

Stage	Global app use	Korean app use
Before visiting Korea	99.8%	69.4%
During the stay	89.9%	91.7%
After the visit	91.6%	9.5%

These are figures from the dated study, not a new measure of 2026 behavior. The global-app category combines apps and is not Google's share alone. Korean and global use can overlap.

Nearly all respondents used global apps before the trip. Naver Map can then help them find the way to a place once in Korea, while the choice of where to go may have started much earlier.

By the time someone opens navigation, their destination may already be another business.

Many choices begin before the flight

The original article cites approximately 10.71 million international arrivals in the first half of 2026 (Korean), up 21.3% year on year.

Planning may include a Google search combining city and category, such as seoul korean bbq, videos on YouTube, accounts of visits on Reddit or home-country communities, and photographs found through Instagram hashtags.

A place that appeals may be saved on Google Maps, leaving a shortlist by arrival. If the business never appears during that process, the customer has less reason to choose it, even when passing the entrance.

On arrival, the map can become the shortlist

Plenty of decisions are also made on the spot. A visitor opens a map at their current location and searches for the type of business needed.

The results form the shortlist they compare. A business missing from that list can be overlooked despite a prominent sign or good physical location.

Start by checking where your business appears for its category in the area, rather than only searching its name.

What can a customer understand in the first 30 seconds?

Appearing in the list is a beginning. A customer scanning it may first consider review volume, rating and photographs.

Review language matters too.

Even 500 Naver reviews may provide limited reassurance if a visitor cannot readily read them. Reviews they can understand make it easier to assess the experience.

If there are no reviews in a language they read, a visitor may be unsure how communication will work. A review’s language does not establish the writer’s nationality. It does affect whether the next visitor can readily understand the experience.

AI can be another starting point

Some visitors also use tools such as ChatGPT to plan a trip.

A question such as “Where do locals go for Korean barbecue in Seoul?” can return a shortlist the traveler then considers.

When a search-enabled answer includes source links, follow them to inspect the material supporting the recommendation. Try a question in English and examine which information about the business is cited. A single answer will not explain every inclusion or omission, but its cited pages give you something concrete to review.

Pre-trip search, local Maps use and AI-assisted planning all depend on information customers can find and understand. Google visibility matters for search and Maps and may contribute to AI discovery, though AI services draw on multiple sources.

How does your business appear now?

Try three initial checks:

Open a private browser window on a phone and search in English for the area and business type. Check whether the business appears.
Repeat the query on Google Maps and record its position in the results.
Open the Business Profile and count the reviews in languages other than Korean.

If all three reveal gaps, the business may need better visibility or information customers can readily understand. They are starting checks, rather than proof of why customers are absent.

Tourists and international residents can both discover businesses through search and maps, although their needs and preferred channels differ. For a first assessment of fit, see could international-customer marketing work for your business? BlinkAd begins with the screens customers actually see. Leave an inquiry if you would like to understand where your business may be dropping out of consideration.

Sources

KTO, travel-app trends and usage study: fieldwork October 31–December 6, 2023; 1,232 survey respondents and 32 in-depth interviews; released March 5, 2024. The figures retained from the original article are corroborated by contemporary Yonhap reporting (Korean) and Newspim's coverage of KTO's findings (Korean).
KTO tourism statistics, as cited in the original article: 10,709,919 arrivals in January–June 2026, up 21.3% year on year. Korea Policy Briefing, July 31, 2026 (Korean) confirms the rounded total; contemporary KTO-release reporting supplies the exact figure and growth rate.

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