No. of Japanese visitors jumps more than 28 percent in 2018
Japanese tourists tie New Year wish notes to a rope during a visit to Namsangol Hanok Village in Jung-gu, Seoul, in this December 2018 file photo. Korea Times file
The number of Japanese visitors to South Korea increased at the fastest rate in nine years in 2018, while reciprocal visits to Japan by South Koreans reached a record high, according to data released Saturday.
Statistics Korea said the number of visitors from the neighboring country spiked 28.1 percent year-on-year to reach 2.92 million, the highest since 2009, which saw a 28.7 percent increase from the year before.
The rise in the number of South Korean visitors to Japan, on the other hand, slowed from a year earlier, according to the Japanese National Tourism Organization.
The number of South Koreans visiting Japan came to 7.53 million, up 5.6 percent from 2017.
This was the highest figure since 2003 when Japan began releasing such data. (Yonhap)