Beach crowds on East Coast down 25% from last year

The number of beachgoers visiting Gangwon Province's East Coast this summer has fallen 25 percent from a year ago.

Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province said cumulative visitors to 86 beaches across six cities and counties along the East Coast stood at 6,141,430 as of Sunday — down 2,031,403, or about 24.9 percent, from 8,172,833 during the same period last year.

Goseong-gun, which drew more than 2 million visitors last year, has recorded only about 640,000 so far this year — a drop of about 1,423,000, or 69 percent.

Gangneung saw its visitor count fall by about 538,000, or 18.1 percent, while Donghae was down roughly 209,000, or 25 percent. Sokcho and Samcheok also posted declines, shedding about 82,000 visitors (11.4 percent) and about 33,000 visitors (4 percent), respectively.

Yangyang-gun was the lone exception, drawing about 988,000 visitors — an increase of roughly 255,000, or 34.8 percent, over last year.