Tourism is the fastest growing portion of the Australian economy. Incr
easing the number of overseas visitors to Australia, particularly from
new markets in Asia, is essential to maintain this growth. Within the
Asian market, the Republic of Korea, since the liberation of outbound
travel in 1989, has recorded one of the world's highest levels of inc
rease in outbound tourism. Although from 1988 to 1991 departures by Ko
reans for sightseeing travel increased from 134 000 to 651 000, Austra
lia remained a marginal travel destination; actual travel patterns fav
oured Japan, North America and Europe. By occupation, university stude
nts comprised one of the largest socio-economic market segments of the
se travellers. A structured questionnaire was distributed in four univ
ersity campuses in Seoul to assess Korean students' preferred vacation
motivations, destinations, activities, descriptive word-images of Aus
tralia and their gendered differentiation. Results suggest that struct
ural constraints of the tourist industry, rather than socio-demographi
c or psychographic barriers for the Korean students, are preventing th
em from travelling to Australia.