[Photo] South Korea’s tourism balance hits record deficit

The Bank of Korea announced on Mar. 6 that the country’s tourism balance – the number of outbound travelers compared to the number of visitors to Korea – reached a record high in January. The deficit hit US$2.16 billion that month, as visitors to Korea spent US$1.09 billion compared to the US$3.24 billion that Korean tourists spent overseas. Nearly three million Koreans travelled abroad in January, an increase of over 20% from the previous year. Overall, the country saw a decline in tourist revenue of 22.5% percent in 2017 compared to the previous year, which was mainly the result of China’s ban on group tours due to the THAAD dispute.

Meanwhile, the country continued to run a trade surplus for the 71st consecutive month, dating to March 2012. The January surplus of US$2.68 billion, however, was far lower than the US$7.43 billion and US$4.09 billion that were recorded in Nov. 2017 and Dec. 2017, respectively. The photo shows passengers going through customs at the newly opened Terminal 2 at Incheon Airport. (Hankyoreh Archive)