Seoul:More than 15 million foreign tourists visited the Republic of Korea in the first eight months of this year.
According to Emirates News Agency , the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organisation reported that 15.05 million visitors arrived between January and August. This marks a 21.6 percent increase compared to the same period last year when 12.38 million foreign tourists were recorded. August alone saw a monthly record of 2.25 million visitors.
Foreign tourists spent 14 trillion won (US$10.3 billion) on tourism-related card transactions during these eight months. This spending represents a 48.5 percent increase from the same period in 2025 and is the highest figure since data collection began.
Meanwhile, the number of Korean tourists traveling overseas reached 19.81 million from January to August this year, which is 98.7 percent of the level recorded in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.