South Korea welcomes record 15 million foreign tourists by August

A total of 15.05 million international visitors arrived in the country between January and August, marking a 21.6% increase from the 12.38 million recorded during the same period last year.

The milestone was reached more than a month earlier than in the previous year, while August alone set a monthly record with 2.25 million foreign arrivals.

Foreign tourists spent 14 trillion won ($10.3 billion) on tourism-related card transactions during the first eight months, up 48.5% from the same period in 2025. The figure was the highest recorded since data collection began.

Tourism also continued to expand beyond the greater Seoul area. Visitors arriving through regional airports and ports accounted for 27.8% of total foreign arrivals, the highest proportion recorded so far this year.

The inbound tourism market posted growth across major source markets, with particularly strong increases among visitors from Chinese-speaking countries.

Arrivals from China rose 29% to 4.8 million, while visitors from Taiwan increased 32.2% to 1.66 million.

Tourist arrivals from Southeast Asia also increased from a year earlier. Visitors from the Philippines reached 454,000, followed by Vietnam with 407,000, Indonesia with 295,000, Singapore with 243,000 and Thailand with 230,000.

Earlier, it was reported Japan had reclaimed the top spot among 110 economies in the World Economic Forum's 2026 Travel and Tourism Development Index rankings, released Friday.