Korea sees surge in provincial travel as foreign arrivals climb

An infographic showing a surge in foreign visitors to Korea’s nonmetropolitan regions / Courtesy of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Key regional tourism indicators rose across the board in the first quarter of 2026, with foreign arrivals through local airports jumping 49.7 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Tuesday.

A total of 853,905 foreign visitors entered Korea through regional airports in the January-March period, up from 570,389 in the same period a year earlier, the ministry said.

Rail travel by foreign visitors also rose 46.4 percent from a year earlier, to about 1.69 million, while arrivals through regional seaports increased 6.1 percent, to roughly 335,000. The share of inbound visitors traveling beyond the Seoul metropolitan area climbed 3.2 percentage points, to 34.5 percent, according to the ministry.

Visitor spending and lengths of stay also increased.

Based on preliminary data from the ministry’s foreign visitor survey, total overnight stays by foreign tourists outside the Seoul metropolitan area reached 5.28 million in the first quarter, a 36.2 percent rise from a year earlier.

Foreign tourist spending in regions outside Seoul climbed 17.2 percent to $880 million from $750 million in the same period in 2025. Card transaction data from the Korea Tourism Data Lab showed foreign consumer spending in regional areas rose 26.8 percent in the quarter.

Domestic tourism in the regions also grew.

Koreans made 39.31 million trips outside the Seoul metropolitan area in January and February, up 6.9 percent from a year earlier, while spending on those trips rose 3.0 percent, to 5.4011 trillion won, preliminary figures from the ministry’s domestic travel survey showed.

Card spending by Koreans outside the Seoul metropolitan area rose 6.0 percent, while the number of Seoul-area residents visiting other regions increased 6.81 percent.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.