Foreign tourists to South Korea spend $1700 on average in 2015

Foreign tourists to South Korea spent an average of about 2.03 million won (1,712.5 U.S. dollars) when they visited the country last year, a government report showed on Monday.

The result was based on a survey of 12,900 foreign tourists aged above 15, who visited South Korea in 2015, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The 2015 figure was up 107 dollars from a year ago.

The daily spending by tourists while they stayed here averaged about 388,000 won (328.1 U.S. dollars) last year, up from 315.8 dollars the previous year.

Myeong-dong special tourist zone in central Seoul was picked by 35.7 percent of respondents as the best tourist destination, followed by Dongdaemun Market in Seoul selected by 18.6 percent.

The results indicated that shopping was one of the main goals of touring South Korea amid growing popularity of the so-called"Korean Wave"that boosted preference for South Korea-made cosmetics and clothing worn by K-pop and K-drama stars.

About two-thirds of foreign tourists picked shopping as the most considerable factor when deciding to visit South Korea last year, according to the survey. It was trailed by Korean food with 42.8 percent, historical remains with 27.6 percent and fashion with 23.6 percent.

The revisit rate, which measures those who visited South Korea more than twice, reached 46.1 percent in 2015.

By country, the revisit rate among Japanese tourists was the highest at 78.7 percent last year, followed by Singaporeans with 60.6 percent, Hong Kong tourists with 59.0 percent, Russians with 57.7 percent.

The revisit rate for Chinese tourists stood merely at 37.8 percent last year.