Japan Travel Remains Popular: Deficit in Travel Balance with Japan Hits Record High

[Economy 365]

South Koreans' spending on travel to Japan exceeded 13 trillion won last year, leading to a record-high deficit in the travel balance with Japan.

According to the Bank of Korea, the travel balance deficit with Japan reached $5.7 billion last year, the largest since the statistics were first compiled in 1998.

Travel payments related to Japan hit a record high of $8.4 billion, or approximately 13 trillion won.

On the other hand, travel receipts, which represent spending by Japanese visitors in Korea, stood at only $2.7 billion, or about 4.2 trillion won.

This means that South Koreans spent more than three times as much money in Japan as Japanese people spent in Korea.

The number of South Korean tourists who visited Japan last year reached a record 9.46 million.

This is an increase of nearly 70% compared to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In contrast, the number of Japanese tourists who visited Korea last year was only 3.65 million.

The Bank of Korea explained that the demand for travel to Japan has been steadily increasing due to the weak yen and the normalization of flight operations.

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