Foreign Tourist Arrivals in South Korea Rise 14.9% in May

Seoul, July 1, 2025 (Saudi Arabia Breaking News) — The Korea Tourism Organisation said the number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea last month reached 1.63 million, marking a 14.9 percent increase compared to the same month last year.

The figure represents 109.7 percent of the visitor numbers recorded in May 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

By nationality, Chinese tourists accounted for the largest share at 484,000, followed by Japanese at 292,000, Taiwanese at 150,000, Americans at 132,000, and Filipinos at 61,000.

Visitors from Taiwan, the United States and the Philippines increased by 47.6 percent, 38.1 percent and 19.8 percent, respectively, compared to May 2019. Japanese tourists grew slightly by 1.9 percent, while Chinese visitors reached 96.8 percent of the pre-pandemic level.

From January to May, the cumulative number of foreign visitors totalled 7.21 million, up 14.7 percent from the previous year and recovering to 103.5 percent of the 2019 figure for the same period. China remained the top source market with 2.05 million visitors, followed by Japan with 1.33 million, Taiwan with 700,000 and the United States with 560,000.

Meanwhile, the number of Koreans travelling abroad in May stood at 2.39 million, up 5.4 percent from the same month last year and reaching 99.6 percent of the May 2019 level. Total outbound travellers from January to May reached 12.34 million, or 98.6 percent of the 2019 figure for the same period.