SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea last year posted a double-digit growth on a sharp increase in Chinese travelers to the country, the tourism promotion agency's data showed on Wednesday.
The number of foreigners traveling to the country came in at 15,346,879 in 2018, up 15.1 percent from the previous year, according to the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).
The number of Chinese tourists jumped 14.9 percent over the year to 4,789,512 in 2018, taking up 31.2 percent of the total.
The figure for Japanese travelers surged 27.6 percent to 2,948,257 last year. It accounted for 19 percent of the total.
Excluding Chinese tourists, the number of foreign visitors advanced 15 percent to 10,557,367 last year, surpassing 10 million for the first time.
Meanwhile, the number of South Koreans who went on an overseas trip last year totaled 28,695,983, up 8.3 percent compared with the previous year.
