By Choi Sung-jin



Korea's tourism industry deficit increased sharply last year, as more Koreans travelled abroad and fewer foreigners visited the nation, the Bank of Korea said Tuesday.



According to the central bank's balance of payments statistics, foreign tourists spent $15.17 billion in Korea while Korean travelers spent $21.27 billion abroad last year. The nation's travel account deficit widened to $6.1 billion, about 3.5 times higher than the $1.7-billion deficit recorded in 2014, and was the biggest deficit since the $10.86-billion loss recorded in 2007.



Last year's deficit also marked the first increase in the amount of loss since 2010.



The tourism deficit plunged to $1.26 billion in 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. It temporarily rose to $3.98 billion in 2010 but fell back to $3.18 billion in 2011, $3.13 billion in 2012 and $2.81 billion in 2013, the BOK data showed.



The sharp increase in the deficit last year was due to a steep rise in the amount of foreign travel expenditures. A total of 19.31 million Koreans went on overseas trips last year, up 20.1 percent from the year before, according to Korea Tourism Organization. Their total spending exceeded the $20-billion threshold for the first time and marked the growth of 9.3 percent from the $19.46 billion spent abroad in 2014.



Foreigners who visited Korea totaled 13.23 million in number last year, down 6.8 percent from 2014. The nation's revenue from foreign tourists also fell 14.3 percent from $17.71 billion spent here in 2014.



The fall in the number of inbound travelers was the first such decline since 2003. The main culprit was the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory syndrome last summer, which claimed 36 lives and sparked a nationwide health scare. Also the steep fall of the Japanese yen took Chinese travelers away from Korea to Japan, the KTO said.



