Japan sends most tourists to S.Korea in May: tourism body

Most visitors to South Korea last month were from Japan. 

The Korea Tourism Organization on Thursday said its tourism data found that the number of foreign visitors last month reached 867,130, up 398.6% from 173,902 in May last year.

Japan last month sent the most travelers to the country with 183,691, an astounding leap of 4,863.3% year on year stemming from the leading Japanese holiday period Golden Week from April 28 to May 7 and higher demand for travel to South Korea thanks to more flights.

No. 2 was China with 128,171 visitors, up 1,039%, followed by the US with 101,915, Taiwan 66,654 and Thailand 31,597.

The market showing the highest growth was Hong Kong, whose number shot up a mind-boggling 9,221.5% to 28,617.

The number of visitors from the Americas and other regions grew 169.6% last month thanks to holidays and promotional marketing for travel to South Korea in major economies like Canada, Germany and France and the launch of new routes.

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