International tourism, receipts in Korea
Korea: International tourism, receipts was 1.9% in 2020. ▼ Falling
International tourism, receipts in Korea, 1995–2020
Source: Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism. Measured in % of total exports.
Analysis
Korea recorded 1.9% for international tourism, receipts in 2020. That is the lowest value across all 26 years on record.
That represents a change of down 50.1% on the previous year and down 26.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, international tourism, receipts in Korea peaked at 5.3% in 1998 and was at its lowest, 1.9%, in 2020.
Korea ranks 142nd of 183 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 26 years of available data.
International tourism, receipts in Korea, year by year
| Year | % of total exports | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 4.6% | — |
| 1996 | 4.3% | -8.2% |
| 1997 | 3.9% | -7.5% |
| 1998 | 5.3% | +35.6% |
| 1999 | 5.1% | -4.8% |
| 2000 | 4.2% | -16.9% |
| 2001 | 4.5% | +5.9% |
| 2002 | 4.0% | -11.2% |
| 2003 | 3.0% | -23.5% |
| 2004 | 2.7% | -10.1% |
| 2005 | 2.5% | -9.6% |
| 2006 | 2.2% | -11.4% |
| 2007 | 2.0% | -6.8% |
| 2008 | 2.6% | +25.9% |
| 2009 | 3.0% | +18.5% |
| 2010 | 2.6% | -13.8% |
| 2011 | 2.6% | -2.3% |
| 2012 | 2.7% | +3.7% |
| 2013 | 2.7% | +1.7% |
| 2014 | 3.1% | +14.5% |
| 2015 | 2.9% | -5.4% |
| 2016 | 3.4% | +18.1% |
| 2017 | 2.6% | -25.7% |
| 2018 | 3.2% | +23.5% |
| 2019 | 3.9% | +21.8% |
| 2020 | 1.9% | -50.1% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 4.6% | 3.9% | 5.3% | 5 |
| 2000s | 3.1% | 2.0% | 4.5% | 10 |
| 2010s | 3.0% | 2.6% | 3.9% | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.9% | 1.9% | 1.9% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Korea
More private sector data for Korea
- Merchandise trade 71.6% (2025)
- Food imports 6.3% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 60.1% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 631.89 billion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 1.6% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 87.3% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 709.33 billion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 13,724 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.3788 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 3.76 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is international tourism, receipts in Korea?
- International tourism, receipts in Korea was 1.9% in 2020, according to Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism.
- What is the highest international tourism, receipts recorded in Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 5.3% in 1998.
- What is the lowest international tourism, receipts recorded in Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.9% in 2020.
- How does Korea rank for international tourism, receipts?
- Korea ranks 142nd out of 183 countries with data for 2020.
- Is international tourism, receipts rising or falling in Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is down 26.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Korea data come from?
- The figures come from Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism, published as part of International tourism, receipts (% of total exports). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 26 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
International tourism receipts are expenditures by international inbound visitors, including payments to national carriers for international transport. These receipts include any other prepayment made for goods or services received in the destination country. They also may include receipts from same-day visitors, except when these are important enough to justify separate classification. For some countries they do not include receipts for passenger transport items. Their share in exports is calculated as a ratio to exports of goods and services, which comprise all transactions between residents of a country and the rest of the world involving a change of ownership from residents to nonresidents of general merchandise, goods sent for processing and repairs, nonmonetary gold, and services.