Numbers

Korea in Numbers

Who visits Korea, what they do, what things cost and the numbers worth saving — every figure comes from a government or operator source, linked under each block.

Figures checked · October 2, 2026

18.94M
foreign visitors in 2025 — an all-time record

+15.7% on 2024. KTO counts include overseas Koreans and crew.

2025 · Source

6.5 days
average length of stay

60.5% stayed 4–7 days.

2025 · Source

US$1,802
average spend per visitor, incl. flights

US$1,328 without international airfare; US$322 a day including airfare.

2025 · Source

76.8%
of visitors went to Seoul

Busan 15.7%, Gyeonggi 11.2%, Jeju 9.7% (multiple answers).

2025 · Source

01 · Visitors

Who visits Korea

See all 469 numbers
Foreign visitors by year
2019: 17.50M 17.50M 2019 2020: 2.52M 2020 2021: 0.97M 0.97M 2021 2022: 3.20M 2022 2023: 11.03M 2023 2024: 16.37M 2024 2025: 18.94M 18.94M 2025
View as table
YearValue
201917,502,756
20202,519,118
2021967,003
20223,198,017
202311,031,665
202416,369,629
202518,936,562

Source: Korea Tourism Organization — Korea Tourism Statistics (yearly, 1975–2025)

Every year since 1975
15.05M
visitors in the first eight months of 2026

+21.6% year on year. August 2026 alone (2.25M) was the busiest month ever recorded.

Jan–Aug 2026 · Source

65.4%
of arrivals came in through Incheon Airport

88.6% of all visitors arrived by air.

2025 · Source

61.4%
of visitors were women

2025 · Source

Top 10 countries, 2025
  1. 1 China 5.48M
  2. 2 Japan 3.65M
  3. 3 Taiwan 1.89M
  4. 4 United States 1.48M
  5. 5 Hong Kong 0.62M
  6. 6 Philippines 0.62M
  7. 7 Vietnam 0.54M
  8. 8 Singapore 0.40M
  9. 9 Indonesia 0.37M
  10. 10 Thailand 0.33M

Source: Korea Tourism Organization — Korea Tourism Statistics, Dec 2025

All 20 countries with growth rates
Visitors by month, 2025
Jan: 1.12M 1.12M Jan Feb: 1.14M Feb Mar: 1.61M Mar Apr: 1.71M Apr May: 1.63M May Jun: 1.62M Jun Jul: 1.73M Jul Aug: 1.82M 1.82M Aug Sep: 1.70M Sep Oct: 1.74M Oct Nov: 1.60M Nov Dec: 1.52M Dec
View as table
MonthValue
Jan1,117,243
Feb1,138,408
Mar1,614,596
Apr1,707,113
May1,629,387
Jun1,619,220
Jul1,733,199
Aug1,820,332
Sep1,702,813
Oct1,739,020
Nov1,596,939
Dec1,518,292

Source: Korea Tourism Organization — Korea Tourism Statistics (yearly, 1975–2025)

2026 month by month

02 · The trip

What visitors do

See all 481 numbers
What they did in Korea% of visitors, multiple answers
  1. Food & dining 81.6%
  2. Shopping 80.3%
  3. Nature & scenery 53.3%
  4. Palaces & historic sites 35.3%
  5. Museums & exhibitions 21.4%
All 20 activities and what satisfied most
Favourite places visited% of visitors, open answer
  1. 1 Myeongdong 17.3%
  2. 2 Hongdae 7.4%
  3. 3 Gyeongbokgung Palace 7.0%
  4. 4 Seongsu 5.0%
  5. 5 Gangnam 4.5%
All regions and favourite places
What they bought% of shoppers, multiple answers
  1. Perfume & cosmetics 71.3%
  2. Food products 56.2%
  3. Clothing 49.7%
Shopping in detail

Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism & KCTI — 2025 International Visitor Survey (final, Jul 2026)

56.6%
had been to Korea before
80.1%
travelled independently, not on a tour
40.1%
got interested in Korea through K-content

Leisure and family-visit travellers; multiple answers.

97.5%
were satisfied with their trip
95.6%
were satisfied with safety

The top-rated item. Language communication scored lowest (79.3%).

03 · Money

Spending & tax refunds

See all 426 numbers
US$21.89B
international tourism receipts

Bank of Korea balance-of-payments basis. 2019: US$20.74B.

2025 (provisional) · Source

US$14.1B
spent by foreign visitors on cards in Korea

2025 · Source

₩10,320
minimum wage per hour

Set at ₩10,700 for 2027.

2026 · Source

Spending by nationality and category

Tax refund for visitors

₩15,000
minimum purchase per transaction to qualify
₩1M
instant in-store refund: under this per purchase
₩5M
instant refund: total per trip

Source: Korea.net — tax refund rules (Ministry of Economy and Finance)

All tax refund rules

04 · Getting around

Fares & airports

See all 358 numbers
Subway, with a transit card
₩1,550

First 10 km. Single-journey ticket ₩1,650.

Source ↗
City bus (blue/green)
₩1,500

Free transfers within 30 minutes.

Source ↗
Taxi base fare
₩4,800

First 1.6 km in Seoul (regular taxi).

Source ↗
Full fare tables
Climate Card short-term pass
  1. 1 day ₩5,000 ₩5,000 per day
  2. 2 days ₩8,000 ₩4,000 per day
  3. 3 days ₩10,000 ₩3,333 per day
  4. 5 days ₩15,000 ₩3,000 per day
  5. 7 days ₩20,000 ₩2,857 per day

Unlimited Seoul subway and Seoul city buses. Not valid on the Shinbundang Line, GTX, airport limousines or red express buses. The card itself costs ₩3,000.

Source: Seoul Metropolitan Government — Climate Card short-term pass

Passes, bikes and the Han River Bus
Incheon Airport passengers by year
2019: 71.17M 71.17M 2019 2020: 12.05M 2020 2021: 3.20M 3.20M 2021 2022: 17.87M 2022 2023: 56.13M 2023 2024: 71.16M 2024 2025: 74.07M 74.07M 2025
View as table
YearValue
201971,169,722
202012,049,851
20213,198,909
202217,869,759
202356,131,064
202471,156,947
202574,071,475

Source: Incheon International Airport Corporation — Air traffic statistics

Airport statistics in detail
74.07M
passengers through Incheon Airport — a record

Arrivals and departures combined; 425,760 flights.

2025 · Source

6.69M
Seoul Metro passengers a day

Lines 1–8 and part of Line 9 — 289 stations, 312.8 km.

2025 · Source

05 · Korea at a glance

Numbers worth knowing

See all 250 numbers

Save these numbers

112Police119Fire & ambulance1330Korea Travel Helpline — multilingual
All help lines, hours and languages
51.82M
people live in South Korea

Includes 2.11 million foreign residents (4.1%).

as of 1 Nov 2025 · Source

9.32M
people live in Seoul

18% of the country. Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi together hold half of Korea.

as of 1 Nov 2025 · Source

17
UNESCO World Heritage sites

In Seoul: Jongmyo Shrine, Changdeokgung and the Joseon royal tombs.

as of Oct 2026 · Source

39
public late-night pharmacies in Seoul

Open 22:00–01:00 in all 25 districts.

as of Jan 2026 · Source

11
Han River parks

Yeouido, Banpo, Ttukseom, Mangwon and seven more.

as of Oct 2026 · Source

54,780
convenience-store franchise outlets

end of 2024 · Source

Have a question these numbers don’t answer?

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All sources

  1. Korea Tourism Organization — Korea Tourism Statistics (yearly, 1975–2025)
  2. Korea Tourism Organization — Korea Tourism Statistics, Dec 2025
  3. Korea Tourism Organization — Korea Tourism Statistics, Aug 2026
  4. Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism & KCTI — 2025 International Visitor Survey (final, Jul 2026)
  5. Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism — press release, 2 Jun 2026 (Bank of Korea data)
  6. Korea.net — tax refund rules (Ministry of Economy and Finance)
  7. Incheon International Airport Corporation — Air traffic statistics
  8. Seoul Metro — Operations
  9. Seoul Metro — Fares
  10. Seoul Metropolitan Government — bus fare notice (Aug 2023)
  11. Seoul Metropolitan Government — Transport fares
  12. Seoul Metropolitan Government — Climate Card short-term pass
  13. Statistics Korea (National Data Office) — 2025 Population and Housing Census
  14. Minimum Wage Commission
  15. UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Republic of Korea
  16. Seoul Metropolitan Government — public late-night pharmacies (Jan 2026)
  17. Seoul Metropolitan Government — Hangang Park
  18. Newsis, 24 Dec 2025 — citing Statistics Korea 2024 franchise survey
  19. Korea Tourism Organization (1330) · Korean National Police Agency (112) · National Fire Agency (119)

Figures checked · October 2, 2026