Korea's tourism balance swings to deficit in July after 4 months of surplus

Published Sep 27, 2026 10:24 am KST

Tourists visit the Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, Thursday, for the Chuseok holidays. Yonhap

Korea's tourism balance swung back to a deficit in July after posting surpluses for four consecutive months, industry data showed Sunday.

The balance posted a deficit of $50.3 million in July, reversing a surplus of $596.6 million in June, according to the data from the Korea Tourism Organization.

Total tourism spending by Koreans overseas reached $2.67 billion in July, exceeding the $2.62 billion spent by foreign visitors in the country, the data showed.

Korea's tourism balance had remained in the red for 72 consecutive months, since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began to disrupt international travel. It returned to a surplus in March this year and stayed in the black through June before slipping back into a deficit in July.

Market watchers attributed the improvement in the tourism balance earlier this year in part to a series of major K-pop events by supergroup BTS that drew foreign visitors to Korea while calling for concerted efforts to develop attractive cultural content to draw more foreign travelers.

发布于2026年9月27日上午10:24（韩国标准时间）

周四，游客们在首尔景福宫游览，庆祝中秋节。（韩联社）

行业数据显示，韩国旅游业在连续四个月实现盈余后，7月份再次出现逆差。

根据韩国旅游发展局的数据，7 月份韩国旅游发展局的财政收支出现 5030 万美元的赤字，扭转了 6 月份 5.966 亿美元的盈余局面。

数据显示，7月份韩国人在海外旅游的总支出达到26.7亿美元，超过了外国游客在韩国的旅游支出26.2亿美元。

自2020年3月新冠疫情开始扰乱国际旅行以来，韩国旅游收支已连续72个月处于赤字状态。今年3月，韩国旅游收支恢复盈余，并保持到6月，但在7月再次出现赤字。

市场观察人士将今年早些时候旅游供需平衡的改善部分归功于超级组合 BTS 举办的一系列大型 K-pop 活动，这些活动吸引了外国游客前往韩国。他们同时呼吁各方共同努力，开发有吸引力的文化内容，以吸引更多外国游客。