Foreign visitors to S.Korea to surpass 10 mn in 2023

The number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea will exceed 10 million this year, according to the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).

According to the "Korea Tourism Statistics for December 2023" released by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) on Thursday, the number of foreigners who visited South Korea in November reached 1,114,990, surging by 142.4% year over year.

This marks the second-highest monthly foreign tourist arrivals this year after October with over 1 million foreign visitors each month since July. 

Japan recorded the highest number of visitors in November (278,000), followed by China (221,000), the US (93,000), Taiwan (103,566), and Singapore (44,000).

The cumulative number of South Korean visitors from January to November this year reached 9,995,000, a remarkable 275.9% increase compared to the same period last year. This represents a recovery to 62% of the levels seen during the same period in 2019.

The cumulative number of Foreign visitors to South Korea from January to November this year reached 9,995,000, a remarkable 275.9% increase compared to the same period last year. This represents a recovery to 62% of the levels seen during the same period in 2019.

In terms of cumulative foreign visitors by country, Japan led with 2,121,000, followed by China (1,766,000), the US (1,008,000), and Taiwan (880,000).

Write to Mi-Kyoung Lee at capital@hankyung.com