Foreign tourist arrivals in Korea surpassed 2 million in March, fully exceeding pre-pandemic levels. While China and Japan continue to drive inbound demand, markets in the Americas, Taiwan and Southeast Asia are expanding rapidly, signaling a structural diversification of tourism demand.
The Korea Tourism Organization announced Wednesday that 2,045,992 foreign tourists visited Korea in March, up 26.7 percent from a year earlier. The figure represents 133.2 percent of the same month in 2019, indicating that inbound tourism has entered a phase of "excess recovery" beyond pre-COVID-19 levels.
By country, China led with 501,060 visitors, followed by Japan with 481,789. Taiwan ranked third with 192,138, followed by the United States with 152,416 and Vietnam with 74,859. Growth was particularly notable from Taiwan, the U.S. and Vietnam, which reached 195.0 percent, 180.9 percent and 159.3 percent of 2019 levels, respectively.
By region, arrivals from Asia and the Middle East rose 31.4 percent year-on-year, while those from Europe and the Americas increased 26.3 percent. The European and American markets recovered to 169.2 percent of 2019 levels, indicating a rapid rebound in long-haul tourism demand. The market is also visibly broadening beyond its China- and Japan-centric structure to include non-Chinese Greater China markets and Southeast Asia.
Cumulative arrivals from January through March reached 4,743,122, up 22.6 percent from the same period last year and recovering to 123.4 percent of the same period in 2019.
Outbound travel by Korean residents, meanwhile, has shown a more gradual recovery. Overseas departures in March totaled 2,293,716, up 4.4 percent from a year earlier and reaching 98.3 percent of 2019 levels, effectively entering a normalization phase.
