Number of foreign tourists to S. Korea up 16 pct in January

All News 13:52 February 22, 2019

SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Yonhap) -- The number of foreigners who arrived in South Korea jumped by almost 16 percent in January from a year earlier as more foreigners visited the country during the winter vacation period, the local tourism promotion agency said Friday.

A total of 1.1 million foreigners arrived here last month, up 15.6 percent from some 956,000 a year earlier, according to the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).

The number of Chinese tourists shot up 28.7 percent to some 392,000, accounting for 35.6 percent of the total.

The number of visitors from Japan rose a sharp 23.6 percent to some 206,000 last month, the KTO said.

Some 88,000 Taiwanese visited South Korea last month, an increase of 16 percent from the previous year.

The agency said more foreigners took trips to South Korea last month on occasions of winter vacations and extended holidays.

Also, expanded flights between South Korea and those Asian countries helped jack up foreign visitors, the KTO said.

Meanwhile, the number of outbound South Korean tourists came to 2.91 million last month, an increase of 1.6 percent from a year ago.

Last year, 15.34 million foreigners visited South Korea, up 15 percent on-year, with the rise being due in part to a low base effect after visits by Chinese tourists plunged in 2017.