SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA / RankWire.AI / – In July 2026, South Korea welcomed over 2 million international visitors, continuing a trend of travel volumes surpassing pre-pandemic figures. The total number of foreign arrivals reached 2,093,223, as reported by the Korea Tourism Organization. This represented a 20.8% increase compared to 1,733,199 visitors in July 2025, and it accounted for 144.6% of the visitor count recorded in July 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic’s global impact.
The month also saw a 48.6% growth from the 1,408,499 foreign travelers in July 2024. The latest statistics show significant gains across South Korea’s primary inbound tourism markets. China remained the leading source of foreign visitors during this period, contributing approximately 777,000 arrivals. Japan, Taiwan, the United States, and Hong Kong followed as other major markets.
Japan accounted for about 330,000 visitors in July, while Taiwan’s arrivals were approximately 261,000. The United States contributed around 150,000, with roughly 76,000 visitors coming from Hong Kong. All five markets surpassed their July 2019 numbers, with Chinese arrivals increasing by 49.6%, Japanese by 20.2%, and Taiwan experiencing the largest percentage jump of 129.4% from 2019 levels.
Leading Asian Markets Drive Visitor Growth
Visitor numbers from the United States grew by 54.4% compared to July 2019, and arrivals from Hong Kong increased by 29.1%. These figures demonstrate that South Korea’s key inbound markets have largely rebounded above pre-pandemic levels. China maintained its position as the dominant source market, with Japan and Taiwan ranking second and third respectively. The United States remained the top non-East Asian contributor.
Between January and July 2026, South Korea experienced a total of 12,803,142 foreign visitors, marking a 21.3% rise over the same period in 2025. The accumulated seven-month arrivals also reached 129.5% of the 2019 figure. During this period, China supplied about 3.99 million visitors, Japan 2.28 million, Taiwan 1.41 million, and the United States contributed roughly 960,000.
Seven-Month Tourist Volume Climbs to 12.8 Million
During the first seven months of 2026, Hong Kong provided around 420,000 visitors. The Korea Tourism Organization announced the July tourism figures on August 25. The data encompasses both inbound visitors and South Korean residents traveling abroad. Outbound travel by South Koreans in July totaled 2,419,457, a slight decrease of 0.7% compared to the same month in 2025, when outbound trips numbered 2,435,291.
From January to July, approximately 17.38 million South Koreans traveled overseas. This cumulative outbound figure is 98.5% of the corresponding level in 2019. The July data highlights contrasting trends: inbound tourism remains above pre-pandemic levels, whereas outbound travel is marginally below its 2019 benchmark. Notably, South Korea’s inbound arrivals in July exceeded both the 2024 and 2025 figures by double digits.