Korea Tourism Organization: South Korea's tourism revenue in the second quarter of 2020 was US$1.19 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 78.6%

Data released by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute on Monday showed that South Korea's tourism revenue in the second quarter fell 78.6% year-on-year to US$1.19 billion, the lowest since the second quarter of 2003 (US$1.11 billion).

Affected by the epidemic, tourism revenue fell month by month from US$1.58 billion in January to a recent low of US$350 million in April, and slightly rebounded to more than US$400 million from May to June. The Korea Tourism Organization said that the number of foreign visitors to South Korea in the second quarter dropped 97.9% year-on-year to 97,219, of which very few were for tourism purposes only.

In addition, as outbound travel by Koreans has basically stopped, tourism spending in the second quarter of this year fell 76.3% year-on-year to US$1.71 billion, also the lowest level in 17 years.