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South Korea passes 20 million foreign visitors in a year for the first time

Korea is estimated to have welcomed its 20 millionth foreign visitor of the year, the first time it has crossed that line, the tourism ministry says.

1 min read
Foreign tourists walking with suitcases through a busy street in Seoul.
Image: The Korea Herald

South Korea has just crossed a number it has never reached before: 20 million foreign visitors in a single year.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said the country is estimated to have passed the mark as of Thursday. The estimate is based on a provisional 19.97 million arrivals through Wednesday, plus a daily average of about 64,000 visitors this year.

That means the milestone landed with several weeks of the year still to go. Every arrival added through the end of December will set a new record.

It's quite a climb. Korea first drew 10 million international tourists in 2012, so doubling that figure took 14 years. In 2019, before the pandemic, it recorded about 17.5 million foreign arrivals, then its highest annual total. This year's number is roughly 2.5 million above that.

#south korea#tourism#foreign visitors#record#ministry of culture
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Korea foreign visitor arrivals hit record · 3 updates

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  1. South Korea passes 10 million foreign visitors in a year for first time
  2. South Korea records 17.5 million foreign visitors in 2019, a then-record
  3. South Korea passes 20 million foreign visitors in a year for the first time

What happened before and after this story. Background events not previously covered were summarised by AI.

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