South Korea: Tourist arrivals

For that indicator, we provide data for South Korea from 1995 to 2020. The average value for South Korea during that period was 8280 thousand tourists with a minimum of 2519 thousand tourists in 2020 and a maximum of 17503 thousand tourists in 2019. The latest value from 2020 is 2519 thousand tourists. For comparison, the world average in 2020 based on 123 countries is 4935 thousand tourists. See the global rankings for that indicator or use the country comparator to compare trends over time.

Definition: International inbound tourists (overnight visitors) are the number of tourists who travel to a country other than that in which they have their usual residence, but outside their usual environment, for a period not exceeding 12 months and whose main purpose in visiting is other than an activity remunerated from within the country visited. When data on number of tourists are not available, the number of visitors, which includes tourists, same-day visitors, cruise passengers, and crew members, is shown instead. Sources and collection methods for arrivals differ across countries. In some cases data are from border statistics (police, immigration, and the like) and supplemented by border surveys. In other cases data are from tourism accommodation establishments. For some countries number of arrivals is limited to arrivals by air and for others to arrivals staying in hotels. Some countries include arrivals of nationals residing abroad while others do not. Caution should thus be used in comparing arrivals across countries. The data on inbound tourists refer to the number of arrivals, not to the number of people traveling. Thus a person who makes several trips to a country during a given period is counted each time as a new arrival.