Foreigners' Card Spending in Korea Hits Record High of $4.86 Billion in Q2, Up 36%

Driven by an increase in foreign tourists, non-residents' domestic card spending hit an all-time high in the second quarter of this year.

According to the "Overseas Card Use by Residents in the Second Quarter" data released by the Bank of Korea today (the 2nd), non-residents' card spending within South Korea during this period reached $4.86 billion (approximately 6.5793 trillion won), up 36.1% from the previous quarter ($3.57 billion).

This is also a 28.2% increase compared to the previous record high of $3.79 billion set in the second quarter of last year.

The number of cards used domestically by non-residents rose 34.3% from the previous quarter to 25.02 million, while spending per card increased by 1.0% to $194.

An official from the Bank of Korea explained, "The increase in inbound travelers was driven by high tourism demand due to holidays in Japan and China during the second quarter, and the number of cards used domestically by non-residents also reached a record high on a quarterly basis."


Meanwhile, domestic residents' overseas card (credit and debit) spending in the second quarter stood at $5.85 billion (approximately 8.0174 trillion won), down 4.2% from the previous quarter ($6.1 billion).

Spending per card also decreased by 0.9% from the previous quarter to $322.

This marks the first time in six quarters that the spending per card has decreased compared to the previous quarter.

Credit card spending ($4.075 billion) and debit card spending ($1.773 billion) decreased by 0.6% and 11.5%, respectively.

A Bank of Korea official explained, "Although overseas direct online shopping increased in the second quarter, travel-related expenditures shrank as the number of outbound Korean travelers decreased."

During this period, the number of outbound Korean travelers dropped 20.4% from the previous quarter (8.331 million) to approximately 6.631 million.

Over the same period, the scale of overseas direct online shopping grew by 4.3% to $1.41 billion.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.