Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light, though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they, do not go gentle into that good night.
Korea drew 2.05 mil. foreign visitors in March, up 26.7% from year ago
Foreign tourists pose for a photo at Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, April 16. Yonhap
By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea drew 2.05 million foreign visitors in March, a 26.7 percent increase from a year earlier and a figure that significantly exceeds prepandemic levels, according to government tourism data released Thursday. The influx represents 133.2 percent of the arrivals seen in March 2019, signaling a robust recovery in the country’s travel sector.
China emerged as the leading source of tourism with 501,000 arrivals, followed closely by Japan at 482,000 and Taiwan at 192,000. The United States and Vietnam rounded out the top markets with 152,000 and 75,000 visitors, respectively.
While arrivals from China and Japan have returned to prepandemic levels — reaching 102.8 percent and 128.4 percent of their March 2019 benchmarks — other regions showed even more dramatic growth. Taiwan, the United States and Vietnam all surged past their 2019 figures, hitting 195 percent, 180.9 percent and 159.3 percent, respectively. This upward trend was mirrored across broader geographic corridors: The Asia-Middle East region recovered to 141.2 percent of its prepandemic volume, while the Americas-Europe region reached 169.2 percent.
Cumulative arrivals for the first quarter reached 4.74 million, a 22.6 percent increase over the previous year and a jump to 123.4 percent of the volume seen during the same period in 2019. China remained the primary driver of the recovery with 1.42 million visitors, followed by Japan at 940,000 and Taiwan at 540,000. The United States and the Philippines rounded out the top markets, contributing 310,000 and 150,000 arrivals, respectively.
Outbound travel from Korea also showed momentum in March, as 2,293,716 Korean citizens traveled abroad. This represents a 4.4 percent increase from the previous year and brings the figure to 98.3 percent of the volume seen in March 2019.
For the first quarter, the cumulative number of outbound travelers reached 8.33 million. This total marks a recovery to 105.9 percent of the level seen during the same period in 2019, signaling that overseas travel has fully returned to, and slightly exceeded, prepandemic norms.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.