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South Korea

See the latest market data for South Korea – including traveller visits and spend, length of stay, behaviours and preferences.

Introduction

Travellers from South Korea made 31.8 million outbound visits in 2019, with a total international tourism expenditure of US$32.7 billion.

In 2022, the UK welcomed 89,258 visits from South Korea. During the travellers’ visits, their total expenditure was £120.72 million, with an average spend of £1,352 per person.

Discover visitor behaviour, travel trade insights, detailed data visualisations for this market – and more. The statistics in this market report are collated from a range of sources such as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as sponsored questions and our own research. For further details, see How we source this information.

Explore the inbound data in full

Use our visualisations to see data from this market in greater depth and clarity. Compare annual statistics, and filter by age group, gender, trip duration and more. Includes seasonality, trip purpose and regional spread of visitors to UK destinations. This data is based on the International Passenger Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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Perceptions of Britain in the South Korean market

  • South Koreans regarded Britain as the fifth strongest brand out of 60 countries in the 2022 Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands index.

  • The strongest factors included ‘excels at sport’ (scoring third) and ‘vibrant city life’ (scoring fourth).

  • The cultural products most associated with Britain for South Koreans are museums, sports and music.

  • Words associated with Britain include ‘educational’, ‘fascinating’, and ‘romantic’.

Global context

Top-level statistics relating to the population, GDP, tourism expenditure and popular destinations for this market. For greater detail on inbound tourism flows from this market to the UK, see our data visualisations.

Measure

2019

International tourism expenditure (US$bn)

32.7

Global rank for international tourism expenditure

9

Number of outbound visits (m)

31.8

Most visited destination

Japan

Most visited destination in Western Europe

Spain

Key demographic and economic data

Measure

2023

Population (m)

51.8

GDP per capita PPP (US$)

55,707

Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%)

2.4

Annual GDP growth (%)

0.5

Access to Britain from South Korea

The key routes and transport modes that connect this market with the UK.

Measure

2023

Weekly aircraft departures

14

Weekly seat capacity

4,071

Airports with direct routes in South Korea

1

Airports with direct routes in Britain

1

  • In 2023, the direct South Korea to Britain route was Seoul to London Heathrow.

  • Two airlines serve the South Korea route: Korean Air and Asiana Airlines.

  • The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 69% reduction in direct seat capacity from South Korea to the UK in 2020. 2021 was 83% behind pre-COVID levels and 2022 was 65% behind pre-pandemic levels.

  • In 2023, direct seat capacity from South Korea to the UK is set to recover to 68% of pre-pandemic (2019) capacity.

  • The current reduced rate of Air Passenger Duty for visitors departing Britain for South Korea is £87.

Further resources

South Korea Market Snapshot.pdf

Download (559.09 KB)

South Korea Market Profile

Download (16.8 MB)

South Korea Aviation Profile

Download (205.3 KB)

South Korea COVID-19 Travel Sentiment - Published April 2022

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Where visitors from South Korea to the UK reside in their own country - Published 2017

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How South Korean travellers use social media on holiday compared with travellers from other countries - Published 2015

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How we source this information

We work with a number of data sources to provide a rich and insightful picture of our key inbound source markets. This includes, but is not limited to, data provided by Oxford Economics, the UNWTO, Apex, Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index and from our own surveys and ad-hoc research. The largest share of these data comes from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) by the ONS.

Visit our About the International Passenger Survey page for more information on how this data is collected and analysed. 

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