Seoul: The number of foreign visitors to South Korea saw a significant rise in November, with a 17.3 percent increase from the previous year as the nation's tourism industry steadily approaches pre-pandemic levels.

According to Yonhap News Agency, data from the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) revealed that approximately 1.6 million foreign tourists visited South Korea in November, up from 1.36 million a year ago. This figure also represents a 9.6 percent increase compared to the same month in 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

China was the leading source of visitors with 378,000 arrivals, followed closely by Japan with 363,000, Taiwan with 158,000, the United States with 133,000, and the Philippines with 60,000. Notably, while the number of Chinese tourists rebounded to about 75 percent of 2019 levels, the number of Japanese tourists increased by 40.4 percent compared to that year.

Between January and November, South Korea attracted 17.42 million foreign tourists, marking a 15.4 percent rise from the same period in the previous year and an 8.6 percent increase over 2019 levels, as reported by the KTO. Chinese visitors comprised 29.2 percent, or about 5.09 million, of the total.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism anticipates that the annual number of foreign visitors will exceed 18.7 million this year, setting a new record and moving closer to the symbolic 20 million mark. The previous record was 17.5 million, achieved in 2019, just before the pandemic struck.