▲ Bukchon Hanok Village is crowded with foreign tourists.
The monthly tourism balance, which broke free from a long-term deficit to maintain a surplus streak, has been found to have reached its highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization's Korea Tourism Data Lab on the 9th, the tourism balance for June of this year recorded a surplus of $596.6 million (approx. 841.8 billion won), improving by more than $1.44 billion (approx. 2.0318 trillion won) compared to the same month last year, which saw a deficit of $846.8 million.
The tourism balance had continued in a deficit for 72 consecutive months from March 2020, when COVID-19 began to spread in earnest, through February of this year.
The annual tourism balance also recorded deficits exceeding $10 billion for three consecutive years, with $10.3826 billion in 2023, $10.2072 billion in 2024, and $10.7604 billion in 2025.
Entering this year, deficits continued with $1.4034 billion in January and $1.0993 billion in February, before turning to a surplus of $263.8 million in March, and the trend continued with $159.9 million in April.
Following a surplus of $220.5 million in May, a surplus approaching $600 million was achieved in June.
This is the second-highest figure on record, following the $661.5 million recorded in October 2008.
Total tourism revenue for June of this year reached $2.784 billion, outpacing tourism expenditures ($2.1874 billion).
The amount spent per visitor to Korea was $1,397 (1.97 million won), which was higher than the $1,091 (1.54 million won) spent per outbound South Korean tourist.
Experts pointed out that strengthening transportation and accommodation infrastructure centered around regional areas is essential to sustaining this surplus trend.
Kim Nam-jo, a professor in the Department of Tourism at Hanyang University, analyzed, "This is the result of South Korea's international image reaching its peak across various fields, starting with K-pop, followed by our popular culture and food."
However, he emphasized that to prevent this surplus streak from ending as a temporary phenomenon, the center of gravity in tourism policies, which has been focused on major cities like Seoul and Busan, must be shifted to regional small and medium-sized cities.
Professor Kim suggested, "It is necessary to expand direct flights between major foreign countries and domestic regional airports and maintain them even if demand does not arise immediately. At the same time, we need to prepare high-end accommodations in the regions to attract visitors and accurately provide related information."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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