The Republic of Korea (South Korea) has seen a strong rebound in foreign tourist arrivals, with visitor numbers reaching nearly 89 percent of pre-pandemic levels in the first four months of 2024.Â
Between January and April 2024, South Korea welcomed 4.866 million international tourists, an 86.9 percent increase from the same period in the previous year. According to Yonhap News Agency, this recovery has brought visitor numbers to 88.8 percent of the pre-Covid-19 levels.
Read more: South Korea to post trade surplus of $43.4 billion in 2024: Report
Notably, certain countries have exceeded their pre-pandemic tourist numbers, with Taiwan and the United States (U.S.) surpassing their previous levels by 7.5 percent and 19.5 percent, respectively. Indonesia and Singapore have also seen robust recoveries, reaching 110.4 percent and 157.4 percent of their pre-pandemic visitor figures.
However, the rebound in tourist arrivals from China and Japan, Korea’s top two source markets, has been relatively slower. Visitor numbers from these countries have recovered to 78.1 percent and 82.5 percent of pre-pandemic levels, respectively.
The tourism industry is optimistic that these numbers will continue to improve in the second half of 2024, as international flight routes are expanded and the number of flights is expected to increase.
The Covid-19 pandemic had a severe impact on Korea’s tourism sector, with the annual number of arrivals plummeting from 17.5 million in 2019 to 2.52 million in 2020 and further to 970,000 in 2021.
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