SEOUL: Number of foreign tourists visiting the Republic of Korea reached 9.11 million during January – July this year, a 66.8 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Yonhap News Agency quoted the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) as saying on Thursday that the number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea in July was 1.41 million, an increase of more than 30 percent year over year.

This is 97 percent of the level seen in the same month of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regarding the tourists’ countries of origin, China had the most visitors with 459,000, followed by Japan (243,000), Taiwan (143,000), and the US (121,000).

The number of tourists from Taiwan and the United States increased by 25.6 percent and 24.1 percent, respectively, compared to the same month in 2019. Visitors from China and Japan recovered to 88 percent of the levels recorded in the same month of 2019.

Source: Emirates News Agency