overseas card spending-tally

▲ Foreign tourists walk on a street in Myeongdong in downtown Seoul on Aug. 27, 2026. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- Foreigners' card spending in South Korea rose sharply to an all-time high in the second quarter of this year, driven by an increase in tourists, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The amount spent in South Korea by nonresidents using credit and debit cards stood at US$4.86 billion in the April-June period, up 36.1 percent from three months earlier, according to data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It marked the highest quarterly figure on record since the BOK began compiling the data in 2012, surpassing the previous record of $3.79 billion set in the second quarter of 2025.

The sharp increase came as a growing number of foreigners visited the country this year.

A total of 10.71 million foreigners visited South Korea in the first six months of the year, up 21.3 percent from a year earlier, according to separate government data.

Meanwhile, the BOK data showed that South Koreans' overseas card spending totaled $5.85 billion in the second quarter, down 4.2 percent from the previous quarter, due to a decline in outbound travelers.

The number of overseas travelers came to 6.63 million in the three-month period, down 20.4 percent from the previous quarter.

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