Visitor numbers plunge 25% at Gangwon Province's East Coast beaches this summer

Visitor numbers at beaches along Gangwon Province's East Coast have plunged this summer.

Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province said the cumulative number of beachgoers at 85 beaches across six cities and counties on the East Coast stood at about 5.04 million as of Monday, down 25 percent from about 6.71 million during the same period last year.

Goseong-gun recorded the steepest decline, with about 534,830 visitors — a 68.1 percent drop from the previous year. Gangneung, one of the region's most popular summer destinations, drew about 2.07 million visitors, down 16.9 percent. Donghae fell 40.4 percent to about 413,815, and Samcheok slipped 7.5 percent to about 652,285. Sokcho also declined 4.5 percent to about 556,671 visitors.

Yangyang-gun was the only area to post an increase, attracting about 817,400 visitors over the same period — up 42.9 percent from about 245,342 a year earlier.