Southeast Asian tourism to Korea declined this year

The number of Southeast Asian tourists to Korea slightly dropped year on year between March and August when the tourism industry was heavily hit by the loss of Chinese travelers.

Southeast Asian tourists from seven countries fell 1.5 percent year on year during the six-month period to approximately 1.6 million. The number of Chinese tourists slumped 62.2 percent year on year.

Kim said the sluggish influx from Indonesia and Malaysia was notable, considering how the government had planned to focus on attracting Muslim tourists after Chinese travelers stopped coming. Indonesian tourists declined 27.4 percent and Malaysian tourists rose slightly by 1.2 percent.

The sum of foreign tourists that visited Korea this year as of August was 8.9 million, a 22.8 percent decline compared to last year.

By Song Kyoung-son