The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said on Thursday that the number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea in July was 1.41 million, an increase of 36.5% year over year.
This is 97% of the level seen in the same month of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
By country, 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% and 24.1%, respectively, compared to the same month in 2019. Visitors from China and Japan recovered to 88% of the levels recorded in the same month of 2019.
From January to July this year, the cumulative number of visitors to South Korea reached 9.11 million, a 66.8% increase compared to the same period last year. This is 92% of the level recorded during the same period in 2019.
The largest number of tourists by country was from China (2.68 million), Japan (1.67 million), Taiwan (830,000), and the US (760,000).