SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA / RankWire.AI / – In July 2026, South Korea welcomed over 2 million international visitors, continuing a trend of travel levels surpassing those before the COVID-19 pandemic. The country saw a total of 2,093,223 foreign arrivals during that month, according to the Korea Tourism Organization. This number reflects a 20.8% increase from 1,733,199 visitors in July 2025. It also reached 144.6% of the figure recorded in July 2019, prior to the global travel disruptions caused by COVID-19.
Compared to July 2024, the total foreign visitors grew by 48.6% from 1,408,499. The recent figures show substantial growth across South Korea’s major inbound markets. China remained the top source of tourists in July. Tourists from China made up about 777,000 arrivals. Close behind were visitors from Japan, Taiwan, the United States, and Hong Kong.
Japan contributed roughly 330,000 visitors that month, with Taiwan adding approximately 261,000. About 150,000 travelers arrived from the United States, while around 76,000 came from Hong Kong. All five markets exceeded their July 2019 numbers. Chinese arrivals grew by 49.6% compared to July 2019, and Japanese arrivals increased by 20.2%. Taiwan experienced the largest percentage rise, up 129.4% from its 2019 level.
Leading Asian markets show strong growth in visitor numbers
Visitor numbers from the United States went up 54.4% compared to July 2019. Hong Kong’s arrivals rose 29.1%. These figures indicate that South Korea’s biggest inbound markets have moved above their pre-pandemic levels. China continued to be the dominant source by a large margin. Japan and Taiwan ranked second and third, respectively. The United States remained the top non-Asian origin market.
From January to July 2026, South Korea saw 12,803,142 foreign visitors. This total increased by 21.3% over the same period in 2025. It also reached 129.5% of the January-July figure from 2019. China contributed about 3.99 million visitors during these months. Japan was next with 2.28 million, followed by Taiwan with 1.41 million. The United States provided roughly 960,000.
Seven-month total reaches 12.8 million arrivals
In the first seven months of 2026, Hong Kong contributed about 420,000 visitors. The Korea Tourism Organization published the July tourism data on August 25. These figures include both inbound visitors and outbound South Korean travelers. In July, outbound travel by Koreans was 2,419,457, a 0.7% decrease from July 2025’s 2,435,291.
Between January and July, approximately 17.38 million South Koreans traveled abroad. This outbound total was 98.5% of the same period in 2019. The July figures highlight differing travel patterns: foreign arrivals are well above pre-pandemic levels, but outbound travel remains slightly below the 2019 benchmark. Inbound travel in July also outperformed both 2024 and 2025 by double digits.