No. of foreign tourists to S. Korea hit record high in 2019

올해 외래 관광객 1725만명 예상 '역대 최대'…관광수입만 25조 추산 The number of foreign tourists to South Korea has hit a record high of 17-and-a-quarter million this year. To celebrate the achievement,... the government held a welcome ceremony this morning at Incheon International Airport for an Indonesian family that put Korea over the line. Kan Hyeong-woo has this story. Seventeen-million two-hundred-fifty-thousand. That's how many foreign tourists have come to South Korea so far in 2019, and it's a record high. Government officials went out to Incheon International Airport Thursday morning to greet a six-member family from Indonesia... one of whom became the 17 million 2-hundred-50-thousandth visitor of the year. "I'm really interested in Korean history. So I plan on visiting the royal palaces in Seoul. My kids love K-pop, so we will be visiting some related attractions. And I want to eat Hanwoo galbi." With 17-and-a-quarter million visitors, the previous record set in 2016 is already broken by 50-thousand people. And with another quarter million people expected by year's end, the total should reach 17-and-a-half million. According to the Korea Tourism Organization's estimates,... tourism will have generated revenue this year worth some 21 billion U.S. dollars. "The most important thing is that a wide range of Korean content, including Hallyu, is seen as attractive. We have diversified our market,... carrying out more promotions and expanding marketing strategies to countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. All that played a role in raising number of foreign visitors." From January to September,... the number of foreigners coming to South Korea rose by sixteen percent compared to a year earlier,... a much higher rate of growth than the global average of four percent. Accordingly, Korea's ranking in the 2019 World Economic Forum's tourism competitiveness report has gone up to 16th out of 140 countries 3 spots higher than two years ago. "With the latest milestone in the books, the South Korean government plans to work with tourism industry...aiming to have 20 million foreign tourist arrivals next year. Kan Hyeong-woo, Arirang News."