Overseas spending by South Koreans reached a new record high last year as overseas travel becomes increasingly common way to spend holidays.

According to data released by the Bank of Korea on Wednesday, Koreans spent $31.97 billion overseas last year for travel or study, the largest amount since the data kept record from 2006.

However, the travel expenditures grew just 0.9 percent year on year, the slowest pace since 2009 when the nation had been hit by the global financial crisis. That compares with an 8.3 percent increase in the number of Korean outbound travelers, meaning that more people went overseas last year than the previous year but they spent less amount of money. The average spending per traveler came to $1,114 in 2018, down from $1,196 in 2017.

The slow growth in travel expenses was due to the changing overseas travel trend by Koreans who prefer more frequent short-distance breaks over long trips. Expanded international short-haul flights by local low-cost carriers (LCC) might have affected the changing preference, according to market experts. The number of aircrafts serviced by budget airlines last year increased to 140, reaching almost 84 percent of 167 planes run by the nation’s flag carrier Korean Air Lines.

The amount of money spent by foreigners in Korea grew faster than Koreans’ overseas travel spending last year. Travel income rose 14.6 percent from the previous year to $15.32 billion in 2018, while the number of overseas visitors increased 15.1 percent on year.

As China has begun to lift its ban on group tour to Korea, the number of Chinese visitors rose 14.9 percent. Beijing had imposed the travel ban in early 2017 in retaliation against Seoul’s deployment of a U.S. antimissile system. Visitors from Japan surged 27.6 percent amid eased geopolitical risks related to North Korea.

The deficit in travel account narrowed to $16.65 billion in 2018 from $18.32 billion in 2017.

By Kim Tae-joon and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]