In keeping with the upward trend in visitation to Korea, the Korea National Tourism Organization has announced that U.S. visitation to Korea increased by 56.3% in May 2004, yielding a total increase of 23.9% from January through May 2004, over the same period last year. In total 196,424 U.S. passengers traveled through or to Korea from in the first five months of 2004, which reflects a dramatic increase over the 147,642 passengers traveling during the same time last year.

Further good news for Korea is that total worldwide passengers are also on the rise. In total Korea has welcomed 2,205,140 passengers through May of this year, an increase of 23.9 percent over last year. Although visitation has increased every month this year, May’s numbers rose 79.5 percent for all international travelers entering Korea.

With a total share of 8.9 percent of the market this year, the U.S. is Korea’s third-largest inbound market, behind Japan, which has sent 39.4% of Korea’s total visitors this year; and China, which accounts for 11.4% of this years traveler’s. The U.S. has long been a significant market for Korea, as American visitors tend to stay longer in Korea, and spend more money than Asian travelers.

Tourism officials attribute the increased visitation primarily to the recovery of the Asian economy from fears of travel during last year’s SARS epidemic. Furthermore, Americans U.S. travel has rebounded dramatically as fears of terrorism, the war in Iraq, and the worries about the future of the American economy subside. For more information about Korea’s travel statistics, contact the KTO at 800/TOUR-KOREA.