Number of Korea's outbound travelers dips 20 pct in September

SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- The number of South Koreans who traveled overseas dropped nearly 20 percent in September from a year earlier due to a weaker local currency and the sluggish economy, a state-run tourism agency said Monday.

According to the Korea National Tourism Organization, the number of outbound
travelers reached 818,747 in September, compared with 1.01 million a year
earlier.
The number of South Korean overseas travelers has been on the decline since May
this year, dropping 12.5 percent and 11 percent in July and August respectively.

The organization said the drop in the number of outbound travelers was a result
of the Korean won's weakness against the U.S. dollar and prohibitive oil prices,
which have dampened overall consumer spending here.
The South Korean currency has weakened about 35 percent against the greenback so
far this year, making overseas travel more expensive.
The South Korean economy, Asia's fourth-largest, grew 0.6 percent in the third
quarter of the year from the previous quarter, the slowest pace in four years,
due to sluggish domestic demand and lagging export growth.
On the other hand, foreign tourist arrivals in South Korea rose 5.4 percent
on-year last month to 587,853 mainly thanks to the won's weakness against other
currencies such as the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan, the agency said.
The number of Japanese travelers to South Korea increased 4.75 percent to 202,229
over the cited period, and that of Chinese travelers jumped 7.28 percent to
112,988, according to the agency.
sam@yna.co.kr
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