The amount spent by foreign tourists who visited Korea in April this year was tallied at over 1.3 trillion won, the highest on record.

Following March, when BTS returned and the figure surpassed the 1 trillion won mark for the first time, it set a new record again. In particular, shopping, fashion, and food posted strong gains.

According to the ‘Korea Tourism Data Lab’ of the Korea Tourism Organization on the 9th, the ‘global Hallyu spending amount’ for April was 1.3287 trillion won, up 21.7% from the previous month (1.0917 trillion won). Compared with the same month a year earlier, it increased 54.6%.

The global Hallyu spending amount refers to the sum calculated from card transactions by foreign visitors to Korea, excluding sectors unrelated to tourism or outside the influence of Hallyu culture, such as lodging and transportation. It includes attending performances, shopping, cultural experiences, fashion, and watching or participating in sports.

Starting at 750.4 billion won in August last year, the spending rose month by month, reaching a record 962.0 billion won in November the same year. It then declined, falling to 645.0 billion won in February this year.

In March, when BTS released its fifth studio album ‘Arirang’ and held a comeback performance around Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, the figure exceeded 1 trillion won for the first time. In April, when their world tour kicked off in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, it set another record.

By sector in April, shopping accounted for the largest share at 38.4%, followed by ‘beauty wellness’ (22.0%), ‘fashion’ (14.0%), ‘lifestyle food’ (12.2%), ‘Korean cuisine’ (10.2%), and ‘night culture’ (nightlife·1.6%).

In terms of ‘mentions by keyword’ analyzing the main experiences of visitors to Korea, ‘attending performances’ ranked first with about 40,000 instances. It was followed by ‘fandom’ (ardent fan activities·about 13,000), ‘taking dance classes’ (about 5,500), ‘visiting entertainment companies such as HYBE·SM·JYP’ (about 4,900), and ‘drama·film-related locations’ (about 4,800).