Seoul: South Korea's travel account posted a surplus for the third consecutive month in May, driven by an increase in foreign visitors, government data showed Sunday. The travel account recorded a surplus of US$220.5 million in May, compared with a deficit of $820.2 million a year earlier, according to data from the Korea Tourism Organization.
According to Yonhap News Agency, this marks the third consecutive monthly surplus since March, when the account recorded a surplus of $263.8 million, snapping a 72-month streak of deficits that began in March 2020. Travel income totaled $2.58 billion in May, exceeding travel spending of $2.36 billion. On average, each foreign visitor spent $1,324 in South Korea, while each South Korean traveler spent $1,007 overseas.
Separate government data showed that 1.95 million foreign visitors arrived in South Korea in May, up 19.4 percent from a year earlier, while the number of South Koreans traveling abroad fell 2.1 percent from a year earlier to 2.34 million. "Foreign visitor numbers have risen sharply in recent months, driven by the growing popularity of the Korean Wave and the weakening won," said Kim Nam-jo, a professor of tourism at Hanyang University. "At the same time, higher airfares stemming from the Middle East conflict have discouraged South Koreans from traveling abroad."