According to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea (BOK) and the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, tourism revenue reached US$1,544.9 million in August, up 47.4 percent or $496.9 million from the same month of last year.
The amount is the second monthly largest after $1,615.9 million tallied in the previous month.
In August, the number of Chinese tourist arrivals stood at 757,683 or 52.1 percent of the total tourist arrivals.
The nation's tourism balance remained in the red in August. However, tourism deficit halved to $264.6 million from $520.7 million a year earlier.
South Korean tourists' expenditures abroad amounted to $1,809.5 million, up 15.4 percent from a year earlier.
The number of Chinese tourist arrivals surged 39.8 percent to 4.12 million in the first eight months of this year from the same period last year, the data said. They accounted for 43.7 percent of the total tourist arrivals.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
