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4.6 mil. foreigners visit Korea in 1st half, up 5 times year-on-year
Foreign tourists wearing hanbok, or Korean traditional costumes, take a selfie at Nokjiwon, the largest garden of the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae, May 24.
By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
The number of foreign nationals who visited Korea in the first half of the year stood at 4.63 million, a more than fivefold increase from 890,000 a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Justice, Friday.
Also, the figure has already exceeded the entire number of those who visited the country last year, 3.39 million.
Japanese nationals accounted for the largest portion at 1 million, followed by Chinese nationals at 560,000, Taiwanese at 400,000, U.S. nationals at 290,000 and Singaporeans at 270,000.
As for the purpose of the visit, the tally for foreign nationals for sightseeing with a B-2 tourist visa was the largest at 2 million, followed by those with visa exemption (B-1) at 770,000 and those with a short-term visit visa (C-3) at 660,000.
Since January, the number of foreign visitors has continued to increase each month, with it reaching nearly 1 million in June alone ― the largest monthly figure since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
Currently, a total of 2.4 million foreign nationals are staying in Korea, up 2 percent from the previous month. By nationality, Chinese nationals account for 37.2 percent, Vietnamese nationals 10.9 percent, Thai nationals 8.4 percent and U.S. nationals 7.6 percent.
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) released similar statistics on the same day, saying the country's tourism industry has been considerably restored.
“The number of inbound travelers from Europe and Americas has been restored to nearly 95 percent of the 2019 level,” a KTO official said. “Since May, the volume of travelers from China has also increased more than 10 times from a year earlier.”