Korea sees 1.42 million foreign tourists in June, almost full recovery to pre-pandemic levels

Korea welcomed 1.42 million foreign tourists in June, nearly reaching pre-pandemic levels, with a 47.5% increase from last year. The number of tourists from the United States exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 44%.

Foreign tourists crowd Gyeongbok Palace in Jongno District, central Seoul on Monday. [YONHAP]

Korea welcomed around 1.42 million foreign tourists in June, marking a rebound to nearly 96 percent of pre-pandemic levels, according to a Korea Tourism Organization report.

The increase was about a 47.5 percent year-on-year jump.

Some 1.48 million foreigners visited Korea in June 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Notably, the number of tourists from the United States exceeded its pre-pandemic level by 44 percent. Tourists from Taiwan surpassed their 2019 figure by 21.8 percent.

Arrivals from Japan and China reached 91 percent and 84 percent of their pre-pandemic figures.

China remained the top source of visitors to Korea with 397,000 arrivals in June, followed by Japan with 258,000, the United States with 152,000, Taiwan with 144,000 and Hong Kong with 54,000.

Korea saw 7.7 million foreign visitors in the first half of this year, a 73.8 percent increase from 2023. That total represents 91 percent of the visitor count seen during the first six months of 2019.

China led those numbers with 2.22 million visitors, followed by Japan with 1.43 million, Taiwan with 680,000 and the United States with 640,000.

A total of 134 countries saw an increase in the number of visitors to Korea in the first half of 2024 from the same period in 2019.

BY SARAH CHEA, YONHAP [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]