According to the Korea Tourism Data Lab, the online information platform of the Korea Tourism Organization, one-third of tourists who visited Korea last year were 30 years old or younger.

Of 11.03 million tourists to Korea in 2023, 3.93 million (35.6 percent) were under the age of 31. Those aged 21-30 were 2.79 million (25.3 percent), while those 20 and under were 1.11 million (10.3 percent).

Among the young tourists, 42.3 percent came from Japan, showing a 15.7 percent increase from 10 years earlier. Tourists from other countries have shown a similar shift toward younger age groups.

Hallyu is considered to have played a decisive role in attracting more young people to visit Korea than before.