Travel services in Korea
Korea: Travel services was 19.5% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Travel services in Korea, 1976–2025
Source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % of commercial service imports.
Analysis
Korea recorded 19.5% for travel services in 2025.
The figure is up 2.6% on the previous year and down 14.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, travel services in Korea peaked at 28.8% in 2002 and was at its lowest, 4.1%, in 1976.
Korea ranks 104th of 198 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 50 years of available data.
Travel services in Korea, year by year
| Year | % of commercial service imports | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 4.1% | — |
| 1977 | 5.3% | +29.5% |
| 1978 | 6.7% | +27.0% |
| 1979 | 12.0% | +78.7% |
| 1980 | 9.7% | -18.6% |
| 1981 | 11.2% | +15.3% |
| 1982 | 16.5% | +46.9% |
| 1983 | 14.4% | -12.6% |
| 1984 | 14.7% | +1.9% |
| 1985 | 17.4% | +18.2% |
| 1986 | 15.6% | -10.3% |
| 1987 | 13.3% | -14.3% |
| 1988 | 20.1% | +50.4% |
| 1989 | 28.3% | +41.1% |
| 1990 | 27.4% | -3.0% |
| 1991 | 26.9% | -2.0% |
| 1992 | 24.2% | -10.1% |
| 1993 | 24.0% | -0.9% |
| 1994 | 24.7% | +3.2% |
| 1995 | 25.0% | +0.9% |
| 1996 | 25.7% | +2.8% |
| 1997 | 24.1% | -6.2% |
| 1998 | 14.4% | -40.2% |
| 1999 | 18.2% | +26.7% |
| 2000 | 21.6% | +18.6% |
| 2001 | 23.4% | +8.1% |
| 2002 | 28.8% | +23.0% |
| 2003 | 25.2% | -12.5% |
| 2004 | 24.8% | -1.4% |
| 2005 | 26.2% | +5.6% |
| 2006 | 27.2% | +3.7% |
| 2007 | 26.3% | -3.2% |
| 2008 | 19.8% | -24.9% |
| 2009 | 18.5% | -6.3% |
| 2010 | 19.6% | +5.6% |
| 2011 | 19.6% | +0.4% |
| 2012 | 19.3% | -1.9% |
| 2013 | 19.9% | +3.6% |
| 2014 | 20.3% | +1.9% |
| 2015 | 22.8% | +12.3% |
| 2016 | 24.6% | +7.8% |
| 2017 | 25.4% | +3.3% |
| 2018 | 26.7% | +5.2% |
| 2019 | 25.4% | -4.9% |
| 2020 | 15.7% | -38.0% |
| 2021 | 14.4% | -8.3% |
| 2022 | 15.3% | +6.1% |
| 2023 | 18.9% | +23.6% |
| 2024 | 19.0% | +0.1% |
| 2025 | 19.5% | +2.6% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 7.0% | 4.1% | 12.0% | 4 |
| 1980s | 16.1% | 9.7% | 28.3% | 10 |
| 1990s | 23.4% | 14.4% | 27.4% | 10 |
| 2000s | 24.2% | 18.5% | 28.8% | 10 |
| 2010s | 22.4% | 19.3% | 26.7% | 10 |
| 2020s | 17.1% | 14.4% | 19.5% | 6 |
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 travel services in Korea?
- Travel services in Korea was 19.5% in 2025, according to Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- What is the highest travel services recorded in Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 28.8% in 2002.
- What is the lowest travel services recorded in Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 4.1% in 1976.
- How does Korea rank for travel services?
- Korea ranks 104th out of 198 countries with data for 2025.
- Is travel services rising or falling in Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is down 14.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Korea data come from?
- The figures come from Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), published as part of Travel services (% of commercial service imports). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 50 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Travel services cover goods and services for own use or to give away acquired from an economy by nonresidents during visits to that economy, or acquired from other economies by residents during visits to these other economies. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service imports which are commercial services provided by non-residents to residents.