South Korea’s travel-related account recorded its largest deficit in six years during the first half of this year, driven by a surge in overseas travel, data showed Thursday.

The country posted a travel account deficit of US$6.48 billion for the first six months of this year, the highest since 2018, when it reached $7.83 billion, according to data from the Bank of Korea and the Korea Tourism Organization.

The deficit came as South Korean nationals spent $14.3 billion on overseas travel from January to June, far outpacing the $7.84 billion spent by foreign visitors in South Korea.

This half-year travel account deficit had decreased to $2.9 billion in 2019 and remained relatively low at $3.5 billion in 2021 and 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it rebounded to $5.8 billion in 2023 as virus-related restrictions were eased.

In the first half of this year, 14.02 million South Koreans traveled abroad, while 7.7 million foreigners visited South Korea.

Source: Yonhap News Agency