Koreans Spent 2 Trillion Won in Just One Quarter... The Power of 'YES Japan'

2.06 Million Koreans Visited Japan from January to April This Year
For Every One Person Entering Japan, Five Left

As of April this year, it was found that one out of every three foreigners visiting Japan was Korean. Due to the end of COVID-19 and the weak yen, tourism to Japan has exploded, and the 'No No Japan' sentiment seems to be fading.

According to data released on the 17th by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the number of foreigners visiting Japan from January to April this year surged to 6,739,500, 28 times more than the same period last year. Among them, Korean tourists accounted for 31%, totaling 2,067,700, a 125-fold increase.

Tourists are taking photos in front of the Glico sign in Dotonbori, Osaka, Japan.
[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Looking at just the first quarter, 1,600,700 Koreans visited Japan, making up the largest share among all countries. Before COVID-19, in the first quarter of 2019, Korea ranked third after the United States and China, but in the first quarter of this year, it rose to first place. Compared to Taiwan, which ranked second with 786,700 visitors, the number is more than twice as many, and compared to China (143,200), it is over 11 times larger.

In particular, the amount spent by Korean visitors to Japan in the first quarter reached 199.9 billion yen (approximately 1.98 trillion KRW). Each Korean spent an average of 124,913 yen (about 1.24 million KRW).

On the other hand, the number of Japanese tourists visiting Korea in the first quarter was 353,611, accounting for 20.6% of all inbound tourists to Korea. Compared to the number of Koreans visiting Japan, this is only 22%, meaning that for every one person from Japan visiting Korea, five Koreans went to Japan.

Sharp Recovery in Overseas Travel... "Travel Balance Deficit Expected to Widen"

Meanwhile, overseas travel by Koreans has recently shown a sharp recovery. In the first quarter, 4.98 million Koreans traveled abroad, about three times the number of inbound tourists to Korea. This is 63.3% of the 7.86 million in the first quarter of 2019, before COVID-19.

As more people leave the country than enter, there are predictions that the annual travel balance deficit will worsen compared to last year.

Lee Seung-seok, Associate Research Fellow at the Korea Economic Research Institute, said, “Last year, because lockdown measures in other countries were not fully lifted, the number of tourists traveling abroad was very low, so the travel balance deficit was smaller than the historical average. This year, as the number of tourists traveling abroad is expected to increase, the travel balance deficit will widen compared to last year.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.