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| A man wearing a mask as a precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic walks near Gwanghwamun, one of Korea's well-known landmarks, in Seoul, Thursday, April 23, 2020. AP |
The number of foreign arrivals in South Korea nose-dived nearly 95 percent last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, government data showed Saturday.
According to the data from the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), 83,497 foreign nationals visited the country in March, down 94.6 percent from the same period last year
The number of Chinese visitors, in particular, tumbled 96.6 percent year-on-year to 16,595, after Beijing issued a travel alert for 15 countries including South Korea as part of its COVID-19 preventive measures.
Also, just 8,347 Japanese came to Korea last month, down 97.8 percent from 2019, following a higher level travel warning from Tokyo.
The number of visitors from the rest of Asia and the Middle East slumped 93.7 percent, with a 99.4 percent drop in the number of Taiwanese tourists and a 99.4 percent fall in those traveling from Hong Kong.
The coronavirus pandemic also pushed down the number of tourists from America and Europe last month, with arrivals from the United States sliding 87.5 percent from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, outbound travelers from South Korea also plunged 93.9 percent year-on-year to 143,366 in March, according to the KTO data. (Yonhap)
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