🇰🇷 East Asia · South Korea
South Korea Tourism Dashboard
Visitor arrivals, source market shares, purpose of visit, entry points and traveller demographics — for the world's favourite pop-culture destination. Data covers January–August 2026 with historical comparisons.
Source of data: Korea Tourism Organization / Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism visitor arrival statistics · Jan–Aug 2026 with 2019–2025 historical comparisons.
Arrivals Jan–Aug 2026
15,048,435
+21.6% vs Jan–Aug 2025
Full year 2025
18,936,562
Jan–Dec 2025 baseline
Full year 2019
17,502,756
Pre-pandemic peak
Top source market (Jan–Aug 2026)
🇨🇳 Mainland China
4,816,134 · 32.0% share
Fastest-growing market (YoY)
🇲🇲 Myanmar
+62.6% · 92,453 arrivals
Top decliner (YoY)
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
-22.6% · 10,355 arrivals
By Air (Jan–Aug 2026)
13,240,360
88.0% of total
By Sea (Jan–Aug 2026)
1,808,075
12.0% of total
Latest Tourism Summary — August 2026
Generated automatically from the latest data on this dashboard.
Latest Month
- South Korea recorded 2.25M international visitor arrivals in August 2026.
- +23.3% compared with August 2025 — strong growth.
- arrivals were also 7.3% higher than July.
Year-to-Date
- From January to August 2026, arrivals reached 15.05M.
- up 21.6% compared with the same period in 2025 (12.38M).
- Visitor volumes are 29.0% above the comparable 2019 level.
Source market Movement
- Mainland China remained the largest source market with 4.82M arrivals (32.0% share).
- Taiwan recorded the strongest growth among major markets at +32.2%.
- Mainland China and Taiwan contributed most to absolute growth.
- Saudi Arabia declined 22.6% year on year.
Market Takeaway
- The 2026 year-to-date performance shows strong growth versus 2025.
- Growth is maintaining momentum: the latest three months averaged +22.4% YoY, versus +21.6% in the preceding three months.
- Arrivals have exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the comparable period.
Monthly arrivals — 2026 (bars) vs 2025 (line)
Jan – Aug, side by side
Annual visitor arrivals
Recovery trajectory 2019 → 2026
Top 5 source markets
Jan–Aug 2026
| Country | Visitors | Share | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇨🇳Mainland China | 4,816,134 | 32.0% | +29.0% |
| 🇯🇵Japan | 2,698,857 | 17.9% | +17.5% |
| 🇹🇼Taiwan | 1,656,255 | 11.0% | +32.2% |
| 🇺🇸United States | 1,079,727 | 7.2% | +10.8% |
| 🇭🇰Hong Kong, China | 495,680 | 3.3% | +18.1% |
Top 5 decliners
Markets with 10,000+ arrivals · Jan–Aug 2026 vs 2025
| Country | 2026 | 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇸🇦Saudi Arabia | 10,355 | 13,371 | -22.6% |
| 🇱🇰Sri Lanka | 19,821 | 20,123 | -1.5% |
Arrivals by region
Jan–Aug 2026
Purpose of visit
Jan–Aug 2026
| Purpose of visit | Arrivals | % share |
|---|---|---|
| Pleasure | 12,691,684 | 84.3% |
| Business | 97,234 | 0.6% |
| Official | 46,402 | 0.3% |
| Study Abroad | 395,419 | 2.6% |
| Others | 1,817,696 | 12.1% |
Gender split
Jan–Aug 2026
Visitors by age band
% share of arrivals, Jan–Aug 2026
Mode of transport
Air vs Sea, Jan–Aug 2026
Airports
13,240,360
88.0% of arrivals
Sea Ports
1,808,075
12.0% of arrivals
Airports
- Incheon Intl (ICN)9,426,616
- Gimhae Intl (PUS)1,467,473
- Jeju Intl (CJU)1,184,763
- Gimpo Intl (GMP)977,452
- Other airports184,056
Sea Ports
- Other ports785,489
- Busan Port551,184
- Incheon Port327,340
- Jeju Port144,062
All source markets
Arrivals, region and YoY change · Jan–Aug 2026
| Country | Region | Arrivals | YoY change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇨🇳Mainland China | East Asia | 4,816,134 | +29.0% |
| 🇯🇵Japan | East Asia | 2,698,857 | +17.5% |
| 🇹🇼Taiwan | East Asia | 1,656,255 | +32.2% |
| 🇺🇸United States | Americas | 1,079,727 | +10.8% |
| 🇭🇰Hong Kong, China | East Asia | 495,680 | +18.1% |
| 🇵🇭Philippines | Southeast Asia | 454,007 | +16.1% |
| 🇻🇳Vietnam | Southeast Asia | 406,816 | +10.5% |
| 🇮🇩Indonesia | Southeast Asia | 295,279 | +22.5% |
| 🇸🇬Singapore | Southeast Asia | 243,078 | +11.9% |
| 🇹🇭Thailand | Southeast Asia | 229,746 | +14.9% |
| 🇨🇦Canada | Americas | 210,964 | +15.6% |
| 🇲🇾Malaysia | Southeast Asia | 206,838 | +12.6% |
| 🇦🇺Australia | Oceania | 185,344 | +13.9% |
| 🇷🇺Russia | Europe | 165,885 | +9.1% |
| 🇮🇳India | South Asia | 159,617 | +18.9% |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | Europe | 141,530 | +24.6% |
| 🇫🇷France | Europe | 139,403 | +16.7% |
| 🇩🇪Germany | Europe | 132,460 | +15.3% |
| 🇲🇳Mongolia | East Asia | 117,026 | +3.3% |
| 🇲🇲Myanmar | Southeast Asia | 92,453 | +62.6% |
| 🇮🇹Italy | Europe | 67,662 | +30.0% |
| 🇲🇽Mexico | Americas | 63,884 | +17.8% |
| 🇹🇷Türkiye | Middle East | 55,819 | +39.7% |
| 🇰🇿Kazakhstan | Central Asia | 51,315 | +14.1% |
| 🇺🇿Uzbekistan | Central Asia | 50,057 | +11.5% |
| 🇳🇱Netherlands | Europe | 48,525 | +14.2% |
| 🇪🇸Spain | Europe | 46,820 | +23.1% |
| 🇵🇱Poland | Europe | 44,857 | +30.1% |
| 🇳🇵Nepal | South Asia | 39,296 | +11.7% |
| 🇰🇭Cambodia | Southeast Asia | 38,072 | +8.3% |
| 🇲🇴Macao, China | East Asia | 37,094 | +28.3% |
| 🇧🇷Brazil | Americas | 31,187 | +18.3% |
| 🇳🇿New Zealand | Oceania | 28,521 | +3.4% |
| 🇱🇦Laos | Southeast Asia | 27,458 | +40.8% |
| 🇨🇭Switzerland | Europe | 24,119 | +28.5% |
| 🇸🇪Sweden | Europe | 22,397 | +55.2% |
| 🇧🇩Bangladesh | South Asia | 21,969 | +30.4% |
| 🇱🇰Sri Lanka | South Asia | 19,821 | -1.5% |
| 🇺🇦Ukraine | Europe | 18,120 | +16.2% |
| 🇧🇪Belgium | Europe | 16,547 | +21.1% |
| 🇷🇴Romania | Europe | 15,891 | +29.0% |
| 🇮🇱Israel | Middle East | 15,592 | +17.3% |
| 🇩🇰Denmark | Europe | 15,587 | +47.1% |
| 🇿🇦South Africa | Africa | 14,103 | +5.0% |
| 🇳🇴Norway | Europe | 14,098 | +50.0% |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | Europe | 14,032 | +25.9% |
| 🇦🇹Austria | Europe | 13,234 | +19.7% |
| 🇨🇴Colombia | Americas | 12,703 | +30.2% |
| 🇫🇮Finland | Europe | 12,038 | +21.8% |
| 🇨🇿Czechia | Europe | 11,863 | +38.0% |
| 🇮🇪Ireland | Europe | 11,816 | +23.5% |
| 🇵🇰Pakistan | South Asia | 11,091 | +9.1% |
| 🇸🇦Saudi Arabia | Middle East | 10,355 | -22.6% |
| 🇬🇷Greece | Europe | 9,778 | +19.4% |
| 🇰🇬Kyrgyzstan | Central Asia | 9,560 | +15.9% |
| 🇦🇷Argentina | Americas | 7,863 | +19.9% |
| 🇪🇹Ethiopia | Africa | 7,236 | +4.1% |
| 🇨🇱Chile | Americas | 6,331 | +14.7% |
| 🇧🇬Bulgaria | Europe | 6,026 | +17.0% |
| 🇵🇪Peru | Americas | 5,909 | +23.9% |
| 🇰🇪Kenya | Africa | 4,948 | +42.2% |
| 🇦🇪U.A.E. | Middle East | 4,590 | -16.3% |
| 🇧🇳Brunei | Southeast Asia | 4,539 | +1.2% |
| 🇪🇬Egypt | Africa | 4,459 | +0.4% |
Source of data: Korea Tourism Organization / Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism visitor arrival statistics · Jan–Aug 2026 with 2019–2025 historical comparisons. Figures shown in thousands (k) or millions (M) where labelled.