Number of foreign tourists in Korea increased by 460,000 in November, increase in Japanese tourists

▲This photo, provided by Yonhap News Agency, shows Gimpo Airport. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, December 30 (Yonhap) --  The number of foreign tourists who entered Korea in November was 459,906, up 387.4% from the same month last year, according to the Korea Tourism Organization on Friday.

Although the number of overseas tourists have recovered to a considerable level compared to the time of COVID-19, it is only a 31.6 percent of November 2019 (1,456,429 people) before COVID-19.

By country, the number of U.S. tourists was the highest with 64,861.  62,422 people visited from Japan, showing increase of 3,746.1% compared to last year.

It was followed by Singapore (33,212), Thailand (29,316), and Vietnam (27,313).

The number of tourists from Hong Kong showed greatest increase. 14,721 people visited Korea, up 12,270.6% from last year (119 people).

The decrease in the number of required PCR tests for returnees to Hong Kong brought big change.

17,914 people visited from Taiwan. This is an increase of 4677.1% from last year (375people).

24,174 people visited Korea from China. 93.8% higher than last year, showing the lowest increase among 12 major countries.

Meanwhile, the number of Korean travelers who left the country increased by 604.1% to 1,041,431 people.

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Dowon Kim.)

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved