Nearly 2 million tourists visited South Korea in June, with Chinese tourists accounting for more than one-third.

Korean Media: Foreign Tourists to South Korea Near 2 Million in June, One-Third of Whom Are Chinese!

On August 21, Korean media outlet Seoul Economic Daily published an article stating that in June this year, the number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea approached 2 million. The increase in Chinese visitors was the most significant, growing by 36% compared to the same period last year and accounting for one-third of all foreign tourists.

According to data released by the Korea Tourism Organization's Data Lab, South Korea received 1,993,128 foreign tourists in June, a year-on-year increase of 23.1% and a surge of 135.0% compared to June 2019.

The number of Chinese tourists reached 649,582, up 36.2% year-on-year. Chinese tourists accounted for 32.6% of total foreign visitors, an increase of 3.1 percentage points from 29.5% in June of the previous year. Out of the additional 373,908 tourists, Chinese visitors contributed 172,530, making up 46.1%.

After China, Japanese tourist arrivals rose by 21.3%, reaching 348,216. American tourists increased by 6.9%, totaling 177,744.

American tourists saw a 168.6% increase compared to 2019. Tourists from Europe and the Americas totaled 376,000, up 47.0% from 2019 levels.

In the first half of this year, South Korea welcomed a cumulative total of 10,709,919 tourists, up 21.3% year-on-year and 26.9% higher than the same period in 2019. By country and region, China led with 3,211,791 visitors, followed by Japan and the United States. Chinese tourists increased by 27.1% compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, outbound travelers from South Korea in June numbered 2,004,723, a decrease of 10.0% year-on-year. As a result, the gap between outbound and inbound travelers narrowed to just 1,159 people. The cumulative number of outbound travelers for the first half of the year reached 14.96 million, recovering to 99.7% of the level recorded in the same period of 2019.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1874132221894731/

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