Foreign tourists visiting Seoul jump 19% year-on-year in April

“A total of 1.56 million foreign tourists visited Seoul in April, marking an 18.8 percent increase from the same month last year, the metropolitan government said Sunday. Amid the increase, card spending by foreign visitors in Seoul reach 1.15 trillion won ($763.1 million) in April, up a sharp 50.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the announcement based on data from the Korea Tourism Organization and the culture ministry. Of the nearly 2 trillion won in card spending by foreigners nationwide last month, Seoul accounted for the largest share of 72.3 percent, excluding online purchases worth 397.4 billion won. By category, spending at shopping malls reached 245.2 billion won, up 62.5 percent from a year earlier, while medical spending rose by 59.2 percent to 192.1 billion won. Spending on beauty related-purchases increased 35 percent. The southern district of Gangnam accounted for the biggest share of spending in Seoul, at 29.1 percent, followed by the central Jung district at 27.5 percent and the Mapo district at 7.4 percent. Chinese tourists represented the largest group of foreig

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