S.Korean travelers splurge in Japan on softer yen

South Korean travelers spent a total of 431.4 billion won ($312 million) through debit and credit cards in Japan in the first half of this year, twice as much as they spent in the neighboring country in the same period last year, according to Hana Card on Tuesday.

The surge in their card transactions in Japan was attributed to the softening yen. The number of Hana Card users in offline stores in Japan nearly doubled to 427,295 in the January-June period, compared with the year prior.

Spending per Hana Card holder in Japan increased by nearly 100,000 won to 1.0 million won in the first half of this year from 915,745 won a year before.

Department stores accounted for the largest share of 14.3% of their spending, followed by restaurants (4.8%), discount stores (4.7%), general merchandise stores (4.4%) and clothing stores (3.8%).

The average daily number of won-to-yen exchanges via Hana Travelogue Card that offers currency exchange benefits reached 18,106 in June, its highest since its launch in 2022.

In the same month, their average currency exchange amount more than doubled to 2.8 billion won daily, compared with 1.3 billion won in December of last year.

The yen’s prolonged weakness will continue to spur consumption in Japan in particular in the third quarter, the traditional peak travel season, said a Hana Card official.

In the first half of this year, the Japanese yen declined 14.2% against the US dollar. It underperformed the Korean won that lost 7% of its value to the greenback over the same period.

Write to Mi-Hyun Jo at mwise@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.