The number of South Korean tourists visiting Japan last year was three times higher than the number of Japanese tourists visiting South Korea, the Korea Tourism Organization(KTO) said on Jan. 31.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization and the Japan National Tourism Organization, Korean tourists accounted for 6.96 million(27.8%) of the 25.07 million foreign tourists who visited Japan last year.
This is the largest number, sorted by country. Taiwan (4.2 million) came in second. China (2.43 million), Hong Kong (2.11 million), and the United States (2.05 million) followed.
In contrast, 2.32 million Japanese tourists, less than one-third of the number of Koreans visiting Japan, visited South Korea.
Out of the 11.03 million foreign tourists who visit Korea every year, around 21.0% are Japanese tourists. Despite the fact that the number of Korean tourists visiting Japan is higher than the number of Japanese tourists visiting Korea, the proportion of Japanese tourists visiting Korea is still the highest among all foreign tourists.
Japanese tourists took the top spot with 2.8 million visitors, surpassing Chinese visitors (2.02 million) for the first time in 11 years.
Chinese tourists took the top spot in 2013 with 4.33 million visitors, significantly outpacing Japanese tourists (2.75 million), and the status had not changed until 2020. In 2021 and 2022, during the pandemic, tourists from the United States took the top spot.
The Tourism Organization of Korea cited the improved relations between Korea and Japan, the popularity of K-pop, and the effect of the yen’s depreciation as reasons for the two countries topping the list.
“We will hold a campaign to revitalize the package tours in association with domestic travel agencies and focus on developing high-value package tours utilizing K-content such as gourmet food, sports, and beauty to attract more Japanese tourists,” said an official from the Korea Tourism Organization.
