Foreign tourist arrivals in South Korea surpass 2 million in July

SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- Foreign tourist arrivals in South Korea surpassed 2 million in July, rising more than 20 percent from a year earlier and exceeding pre-pandemic levels, tourism data showed Tuesday.

The number of foreign visitors reached 2.09 million last month, up 20.8 percent from 1.73 million a year earlier, according to figures released by the Korea Tourism Organization.

The total represents 144.6 percent of the arrivals recorded in July 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic severely disrupted international travel.

Chinese tourists made up the largest group with about 777,000 visitors, followed by travelers from Japan at 330,000, Taiwan at 261,000, the United States at 150,000 and Hong Kong at 76,000. Compared with July 2019, arrivals from Taiwan increased by 129.4 percent.

From January through July, South Korea received 12.8 million foreign visitors, a 21.3 percent increase from the same period last year.

China remained the largest source of visitors during the January-July period with 3.99 million arrivals, followed by Japan with 2.28 million, Taiwan with 1.41 million, the United States with 960,000 and Hong Kong with 420,000.