National Museum of Korea sees almost 95,000 foreign visitors in first half of 2024, highest ever figure

The National Museum of Korea saw almost 95,000 foreign visitors during the first half of the year, the highest ever figure, according to the museum on Wednesday.

A crowd listens to a tour guide at the National Museum of Korea. [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA]

The National Museum of Korea saw almost 95,000 foreign visitors during the first half of the year, the highest ever figure, according to the museum on Wednesday.

Visitor numbers reached 94,951 people, a 34.5 percent increase compared to the same period last year, when there were 70,585 foreign visitors, according to the museum.

"This appears to be the result of diversifying the exhibition content in response to the global interest in K-culture and the increasing number of foreign visitors to Korea," the museum explained.

There were 463 guided tours in English, Chinese and Japanese, with around 3,900 participants in the first half of this year. This represents a 29 percent increase from last year, according to the museum.

The National Museum of Korea ranked sixth in popularity among museums and art galleries worldwide last year with a visitor count of 4.2 million in a list compiled by London–based art publication The Art Newspaper. The list was published in March this year. The total number of domestic visitors to the museum in the first half of the year was 1,554,563, a 16.6 percent decrease from the previous year's 1,863,329.

BY LEE JI-YOUNG, KIM MIN-YOUNG[kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]