SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA / RankWire.AI / – In July 2026, South Korea experienced a notable increase in inbound tourism, welcoming a total of 2,093,223 international travelers. This represents a 20.8% growth compared to July 2025, when 1,733,199 visitors arrived. The figures also surpass the pre-pandemic level of July 2019 by 44.6%. The Korea Tourism Organization disclosed these latest monthly tourism statistics on August 25.
Compared to July 2024, the number of foreign visitors also increased significantly, with 1,408,499 international arrivals recorded two years prior, making the current total 48.6% higher. During July 2026, China remained South Korea’s top source of inbound tourists, accounting for approximately 777,000 visitors. Following China, the leading markets included Japan, Taiwan, the United States, and Hong Kong.
Japan contributed roughly 330,000 visitors in July, while Taiwan supplied about 261,000. The United States sent around 150,000 travelers, with Hong Kong providing approximately 76,000. All five of these major markets exceeded their visitor counts from July 2019. China increased by 49.6%, Japan by 20.2%, and Taiwan saw a remarkable 129.4% rise since that year.
Asian regions lead the summer tourism recovery
U.S. visitors grew by 54.4% compared to July 2019, and arrivals from Hong Kong increased by 29.1%. The July data illustrate that South Korea’s primary tourism markets have all surpassed their pre-pandemic levels. China continues to hold the top spot in terms of visitor volume, followed by Japan and Taiwan. The United States ranks fourth among the five key markets reported for the month.
The overall data for the first seven months of 2026 also reveals a strong upward trend in foreign tourism. From January through July, South Korea hosted 12,803,142 international visitors, which is a 21.3% increase compared to the same period in 2025. This total accounts for 129.5% of the 2019 figure. The Korea Tourism Organization’s data indicates that China contributed approximately 3.99 million visitors, Japan 2.28 million, and Taiwan 1.41 million.
Inbound travel remains above pre-pandemic figures
During the first seven months of 2026, the United States supplied roughly 960,000 visitors, while Hong Kong contributed about 420,000. These latest figures demonstrate the scale of South Korea’s inbound tourism volume in comparison to the years prior to COVID-19. Notably, July arrivals exceeded both the 2024 and 2025 monthly totals by double-digit percentages, with total foreign visitors remaining significantly above 2019 levels.
Outbound travel, on the other hand, showed a slight decline during the same period. Approximately 2,419,457 South Korean nationals traveled abroad in July, a decrease of 0.7% from 2,435,291 a year earlier. From January to July, around 17.38 million South Koreans went overseas. This cumulative figure reached 98.5% of the corresponding 2019 level, indicating that outbound travel was marginally below its pre-pandemic benchmark, while inbound tourism stayed notably higher.