Seoul: The number of foreign tourists arriving in the Republic of Korea jumped by 23% year-on-year (YoY) in July. According to Emirates News Agency, the Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) reported that there were over 1.73 million visitors in July, marking an increase of 119.7% compared to the pre-pandemic tally in July 2019. Visitors from China accounted for 34.7% of the total, while 17.3% came from Japan. The data indicates a significant recovery in the tourism sector, with the number of foreign visitors between January and July rising 15.9% YoY to 10.56 million. This figure is 106.8% higher than the 2019 count, illustrating a return to pre-pandemic levels. The report also highlighted that the number of South Koreans traveling abroad during the first seven months of this year reached 17 million, representing 96.3% of the figure recorded during the same period in 2019.