South Korea

The International Passenger Survey (IPS) was suspended on 16 March 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic until the start of 2021. The ONS have made every effort to produce high-quality estimates for the periods when IPS data is not being collected but have not been able to produce a full set of results. See the 2020 inbound page for more information. Data for 2021 and 2022 was also impacted by COVID-19, more information can be found on the About IPS page.

Due to the above, the latest full year IPS data below is from 2019. You can access data detailed data from 2020 onwards on the latest annual page.

Global context


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	2021
Population (m)	51.3
GDP per capita PPP (US$)	43,412
Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%)	2.6
Annual GDP growth (%)	4.0

South Korea Market Profile (PDF, 16.8MB)

South Korea Market Snapshot (PDF, 901KB)

South Korea Aviation Profile (PDF, 199KB)

South Korea COVID-19 Travel Sentiment (PDF, 486KB, Published April 2022)

Find out where visitors from South Korea reside in their own country (Excel, 176KB, Published in 2017)

More information on how South Korean travellers use social media on holidays compared to travellers from other countries (PDF, 794KB, Published in 2015)

Exchange rate

1 GBP = 1624.7395 KRW

As of 7 June 2023

Retrieved from the Bank of England

Inbound visits to Britain from South Korea

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Drag to change year on charts and tables.

Touch the data points to see the values.

OVERVIEW OF UK VISITOR STATISTICS {{activeYear.name}}

Number of visits

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Total expenditure (GBP)

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Total nights spent

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Average length of stay (Nights)

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Average spend per visit (GBP)

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	Visits	% total	Visits	% total
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Table

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Table

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Access to Britain from South Korea


Measure	2019
Weekly aircraft departures	21
Weekly seat capacity	6,009
Airports with direct routes in South Korea	1
Airports with direct routes in Britain	1

In 2019, the South Korea to Britain route was served by Seoul to London Heathrow
3 airlines serve the South Korea route: Korean Air, Asiana Airlines and British Airways
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 69% reduction in direct seat capacity from South Korea to the UK in 2020, and 2021 was 83% behind pre-COVID levels
The current reduced rate of Air Passenger Duty for visitors departing Britain for South Korea is £84

Markets

South Korea