Record numbers of visitors go to royal palaces

A record number of tourists visited ancient royal palaces in Korea last year, the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) announced Sunday.

A total of 10.6 million visitors, including both Koreans and foreigners, toured Gyeongbok, Changdeok, Changgyeong and Deoksu palaces, as well as Jongmyo Shrine. The number is a 17.8 percent increase from visitors the previous year.

The number of foreign visitors to the palaces increased, in particular, by 60.3 percent with some 3.8 million visiting the attractions. This is the first time over three million foreign tourists visited Korea’s palaces in a year.

Over five million tourists visited them in the first half of the year for the first time, and this increased to a record 10 million by the end of November.

The most popular was Gyeongbok Palace with 6.02 million visitors, among which foreigners were 2.9 million.

Changdeok was the second most popular with 1.82 million people followed by Deoksu Palace 1.55 million and Changdeok with 900,000. Jongmyo Shrine was fifth with 330,000.

The CHA official said the organization plans to increase the number of moonlight tours at Changdeok and Gyeongbok palaces to attract more tourists this year.