Seoul, Dec 30 The number of foreign visitors to South Korea rose sharply in November, climbing 17.3 per cent from a year earlier as the country's tourism sector continues to recover to pre-pandemic levels, official data showed on Tuesday.
According to figures from the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), about 1.6 million foreign tourists visited in November, up from 1.36 million a year ago and 9.6 percent higher than the same month in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
China remained the largest source of visitors with 378,000 arrivals, followed by Japan at 363,000, Taiwan at 158,000, the United States at 133,000 and the Philippines at 60,000, reports Yonhap news agency.
While the number of Chinese tourists recovered to around 75 percent of 2019 levels, Japanese tourist arrivals surged 40.4 percent compared with the same period that year.
From January to November, South Korea welcomed 17.42 million foreign tourists, a 15.4 percent increase from the same period last year and 8.6 percent above 2019 levels, the KTO said. Visitors from China accounted for 29.2 percent, or about 5.09 million, of the total.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism projected the annual number of foreign visitors to surpass 18.7 million this year, setting a new all-time high and nearing the symbolic 20 million mark. The previous record was 17.5 million set in 2019, just before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the government has uncovered 88 suspected cases of illegal property transactions involving foreign nationals in a special probe on non-housing real estate deals.
In the investigation carried out jointly by the land ministry and the Office for Government Policy Coordination from September through last week, the authorities found 126 suspected illegal acts tied to 88 transactions reported between July 2024 and July of this year.
The cases mostly involved deals tied to "officetels," or multipurpose buildings with residential and commercial units, and land.
Suspected violations include illegal inflows of overseas funds, unauthorised rental operations by foreigners who lack proper residency status and misuse of bank loans.
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