SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA / RankWire.AI / – In July 2026, South Korea welcomed over 2 million international travelers, with a total of 2,093,223 foreign visitors, reflecting a continued recovery from the pandemic and surpassing pre-COVID levels. The Korea Tourism Organization confirmed these figures. This represents a 20.8% increase compared to 1,733,199 visitors in July 2025, and amounts to 144.6% of the visitor count recorded in July 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted global travel.
The total for July also shows a significant 48.6% rise from the 1,408,499 foreign arrivals documented in July 2024. The latest data indicates broad growth across South Korea’s primary inbound tourism markets. China remained the top source of foreign visitors during the month, with approximately 777,000 arrivals from there, followed by visitors from Japan, Taiwan, the United States, and Hong Kong.
Japan contributed roughly 330,000 visitors in July, while Taiwan accounted for around 261,000. The United States sent about 150,000 travelers, and approximately 76,000 visitors arrived from Hong Kong. Each of these five markets exceeded its July 2019 figures. Chinese arrivals saw a 49.6% increase from July 2019, Japanese arrivals rose 20.2%, and Taiwan experienced the largest percentage growth, up 129.4% from its 2019 level.
Leading Asian Markets Drive Visitor Growth
Arrivals from the United States grew by 54.4% compared to July 2019, while Hong Kong’s numbers increased by 29.1%. The data demonstrates that South Korea’s main inbound tourism markets have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. China remained the dominant source of visitors by a wide margin in July. Japan and Taiwan ranked second and third, respectively, with the United States continuing to be the leading outside-East Asia source market.
From January to July 2026, South Korea received a total of 12,803,142 foreign visitors. This seven-month figure marks a 21.3% rise compared to the same period in 2025 and reached 129.5% of the January-July total in 2019. China contributed about 3.99 million visitors, Japan followed with 2.28 million, Taiwan accounted for 1.41 million, and the United States added approximately 960,000.
Seven-Month Foreign Visitor Total Hits 12.8 Million
During the first seven months of 2026, Hong Kong contributed about 420,000 travelers. The Korea Tourism Organization revealed the July tourism statistics on August 25. These figures cover inbound foreign visitors as well as South Korean residents traveling abroad. In July, outbound travel by South Koreans reached 2,419,457, reflecting a slight 0.7% decrease from the same month in 2025, when outbound travel totaled 2,435,291.
Between January and July, approximately 17.38 million South Koreans traveled overseas. This cumulative outbound figure is 98.5% of the same period in 2019. The July data highlights contrasting trends: inbound visitors exceeded pre-pandemic levels, whereas outbound travel remained just below the 2019 benchmark. South Korea’s inbound count in July also outperformed both its 2024 and 2025 figures by double digits.