Tourism-related card spending jumped 47.7 percent from a year earlier to 15.94 trillion won in the first nine months, while foreign arrivals rose 21.5 percent, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Thursday.
The visitor count was 1.83 million short of the 18.94 million recorded for all of 2025.
China remained the largest source market with 5.47 million visitors, up 29.2 percent from a year earlier. Japan followed with 3.12 million, up 16.9 percent, while arrivals from Taiwan rose 32.4 percent to 1.86 million.
September alone drew 2.06 million foreign visitors, up 21.1 percent from a year earlier. Monthly arrivals topped 2 million for a third consecutive month, following 2.09 million in July and 2.25 million in August.
Growth was also stronger outside the Seoul metropolitan area. Arrivals through regional airports including Gimhae, Jeju, Cheongju and Daegu rose 37.4 percent to 3.24 million in the first nine months, compared with a 17.3 percent increase through metropolitan-area airports.
Regional airports and ports together handled 4.82 million foreign arrivals, accounting for 28.2 percent of the total.
“The various efforts to raise awareness of Korean tourism, improve the travel environment and expand content are bearing fruit,” Kang Jung-won, head of the ministry's tourism policy office, said.
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