Korea's tourism balance swings to deficit in July after 4 months of surplus

Korea's tourism balance swung back to a deficit in July after posting surpluses for four consecutive months, industry data showed Sunday.

The balance posted a deficit of $50.3 million in July, reversing a surplus of $596.6 million in June, according to the data from the Korea Tourism Organization.

Total tourism spending by Koreans overseas reached $2.67 billion in July, exceeding the $2.62 billion spent by foreign visitors in the country, the data showed.

Korea's tourism balance had remained in the red for 72 consecutive months, since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began to disrupt international travel. It returned to a surplus in March this year and stayed in the black through June before slipping back into a deficit in July.

Market watchers attributed the improvement in the tourism balance earlier this year in part to a series of major K-pop events by supergroup BTS that drew foreign visitors to Korea while calling for concerted efforts to develop attractive cultural content to draw more foreign travelers.