The number of foreign tourists to South Korea doubled over the past decade, and the growth was largely led by female tourists in their 20s and 30s from China and Japan.

According to data released by the state-run Korea Culture and Tourism Institute on Thursday, the number of overseas visitors to the country for sightseeing jumped 96 percent from 7.82 million in 2009 to 15.35 million in 2018.

The number of Chinese visitors reached 4.79 million last year, accounting for the largest share of 31.2 percent of the total number of foreign tourists. They were followed by 2.95 million Japanese people who took up 19.2 percent, 1.12 million Taiwanese at 7.3 percent, 970,000 Americans at 6.3 percent and 680,000 visitors from Hong Kong at 4.5 percent. In 2009, Japanese tourists ranked top, followed by China, America, Taiwan, the Philippines and Hong Kong.

Among the Chinese and Japanese travelers to Korea, the number of female and young visitors significantly increased over the past decade. The share of female tourists from China rose from 47 percent in 2009 to 59 percent in 2018. Out of total 4.79 million Chinese visitors, 57 percent or 2.74 million were those who are in their 20s and 30s, up from 43 percent in 2009.

Female visitors from Japan accounted for 57 percent in 2009, but the figure increased to 63 percent in 2018. By age group, Japanese in their 20s visited Korea most frequently last year, while those who aged between 50 and 59 had accounted for the largest share in the number of Japanese tourists in 2009.

“The rising popularity of K-pop and K-beauty has been attracting more female and young tourists from Asia,” said an official from the tourism industry. “We should continue to create new contents and services to target the visitors.”

By Shin Ik-soo and Choi Mira

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