1.6 Million Foreign Tourists Visited Korea in November, Up 8.7% Year-on-Year

The Korea Tourism Organization announced on December 30 that the number of inbound foreign tourists to Korea last month reached 1,596,939, an 8.7% increase compared to the same month last year (1,361,076).

The cumulative number of foreign tourists from January to November this year was 17,412,870, up 15.4% from 15,098,766 during the same period last year.

With one month remaining in the year, the cumulative number of foreign tourists in 2025 is now only about 90,000 short of the all-time annual record of 17,502,756 set in 2019. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recently stated that the number of foreign tourists this year is expected to surpass 18.7 million, setting a new record.

Kim Daehyun, Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism (left), and Seo Youngchung, Acting President of the Korea Tourism Organization (right), are taking a commemorative photo after presenting a bouquet to Charmaine Lee, the 18.5 millionth tourist from Singapore, at the largest-ever event to attract foreign tourists held on the 23rd at Terminal 2 of Incheon International Airport.
Photo by Korea Tourism Organization

By country, the largest number of inbound tourists in November came from China, with 377,866 visitors, a 26.9% increase from 297,840 in November last year.

This was followed by Japan with 362,879 visitors (up 6.4%), Taiwan with 158,374 visitors (up 32.5%), and the United States with 132,651 visitors (up 21.7%).

For the cumulative total through November this year, Chinese tourists numbered 5,087,135, Japanese tourists 3,348,178, Taiwanese tourists 1,727,496, and American tourists 1,377,641.

The number of outbound Korean tourists in November was 2,467,701, a 3.2% increase from 2,391,140 in November last year. The cumulative number of outbound Korean tourists through November this year was 26,803,084, up 3.2% from 25,970,297 during the same period last year.