• Chinese tourists led record 2.06 million foreign arrivals in March, data shows
  • Foreign credit card spending rose 23 per cent ‌to 3.21 trillion won in Q1
  • BTS comeback concerts drove 55.5 billion won in foreign visitor spending, Hana Card estimates

SEOUL, April 16 — South Korea welcomed a record 2.06 million foreign visitors ‌in March, led by Chinese arrivals, government data showed today, with tourism spending lifted by the comeback tour of K-pop supergroup BTS after a years-long hiatus.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said the monthly record helped lift first-quarter arrivals by 23 per cent from a year ago to 4.76 million, also a record for a first quarter. It attributed the trend to the “worldwide popularity of (Korean) culture”, despite turmoil in the Middle East due to the Iran war.

Chinese visitors made up the biggest share of visitors at 1.45 million, up 29 per cent ‌from a year earlier, followed by Japanese tourists at 940,915, up 20.2 per cent. Visitors ⁠from Taiwan rose 37.7 per cent to 544,503.

Foreign arrivals ⁠through regional airports jumped 49.7 per cent, while the share ⁠of travellers visiting areas outside ⁠Seoul and its vicinity ⁠rose to 34.5 per cent, from 31.3 per cent a year earlier, the ministry said.

Foreign credit card spending rose 23 per cent to 3.21 trillion won (RM8.62 billion) in the quarter, the ⁠ministry said.

BTS fans hold umbrellas featuring members of K-pop boy band BTS as they arrive at a stadium where the group will perform in Goyang on April 9, 2026. — AFP pic

Separately, South Korean credit card company Hana Card estimated foreign nationals who bought tickets to attend recent BTS concerts spent about 55.5 billion won in South Korea between January 1 and April 12 in purchases, with average spending of 1.85 million won per visitor.

Hana Card tracked spending patterns of ⁠30,000 foreign nationals who had bought BTS concert tickets from the group’s first three shows of a world tour in Goyang, South Korea on April ⁠9, 11 to 12, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

BTS, which helped make Korean ⁠pop ⁠music into a global phenomenon, released a new album Arirang in March after putting their group activities on hold in 2022 to complete mandatory military service.

The group performed a comeback concert ‌in central Seoul in March, before launching their world tour, with analysts predicting ticket sales could rise as high as 2.7 trillion won. — Reuters