Foreign tourists to North Gyeongsang Province surge 26.4% in Q2

The number of foreign tourists visiting North Gyeongsang Province jumped 26.4% in the second quarter of this year.

The Gyeongbuk Culture and Tourism Corporation said Wednesday that its "2026 Second-Quarter Tourism Statistics Analysis" showed about 2.05 million foreign visitors came to the province in the second quarter, up from about 1.62 million in the same period last year.

Domestic visitors, however, fell 2.9% to about 45.09 million this year from about 46.42 million last year.

Total tourism spending reached 1.55 trillion won ($1.09 billion), a 16% increase from 1.33 trillion won the previous year.

The corporation attributed the growth to expanded spending on overnight stays and food and beverages.

Analysis of navigation and mobile data showed that Mungyeong, Gyeongju and Andong recorded the most notable visitor increases compared with last year.

Andong drew attention as the host city of a South Korea-Japan summit.

Mungyeong has seen a steady rise in visitors since 2024, driven by its role as a filming location for "The King's Warden" and the popularity of the Mungyeong Tea Bowl Festival.

Gyeongju benefited from heightened name recognition following last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, with local festivals further boosting visitor numbers.

The analysis drew on mobile location data, credit card spending data, navigation search data and social media mention data provided by the Korea Tourism Organization's Korea Tourism Data Lab.

"The second quarter of this year was a period when major international events and broad media exposure translated into a real increase in foreign tourists and tangible growth in tourism spending," said Kim Nam-il, president of the Gyeongbuk Culture and Tourism Corporation.