Economic recovery bolsters foreign visits to S. Korea: data

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SEOUL, June 28 (Yonhap) -- The number of foreigners who entered South Korea and stayed for more than three months last year jumped as the economic recovery bolstered cross-border traveling, a report showed Tuesday.
Those foreigners who visited Korea for job hunting, tourism and other purposes came to 293,000 last year, up 25.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea.
Chinese made up the largest portion, with a total of 155,000 people coming here to stay for more than three months last year.
People from the United States and Vietnam ranked next with 28,000 and 23,000 new arrivals, respectively, the report showed.
Of the total, 44.6 percent said that they came to land a job, followed by 16 percent for a "short-term stay" to visit relatives or take care of non-business affairs. Tourism and permanent immigration came next with 8.8 percent and 7.8 percent, the report showed.
"The ongoing economic recovery at home and abroad appears to have encouraged cross-border traveling," an official from the agency said.
"Many foreigners were spooked by the outbreak of the new flu in 2009 but such fears also eased last year, helping encourage more foreign visits to Korea."
Meanwhile, the total number of inbound travelers, which also include Korean nationals, stood at 632,000 last year, up 6.8 percent from a year earlier, the report showed. People leaving the country, however, fell 3.7 percent to 550,000.
The net population inflow into South Korea came to 82,000, the highest ever since related data started to be compiled in 2000, the report noted.
kokobj@yna.co.kr