Increase rate of departures in the first half of this year exceeded ``600%'' = South Korea

The number of departures in South Korea increased by more than 600% in the first half of this year, as the desire to travel, which had been suppressed due to the COVID-19 virus infection, has sprung up.
According to the results of an analysis of materials obtained by the Bank of Korea and the Korea Tourism Organization by Rep. Seo Yong-kyo of the South Korean opposition party Democratic Party, in the first quarter (January to March) of this year.
General travel payments totaled $5.61 billion (approximately 834.685 billion yen) in the second quarter (April to June), and $5.95 billion (approximately 888.453 billion yen) in the second quarter (April to June).
The amount paid for general travel refers to the amount spent on lodging, meals, shopping, etc. when traveling abroad for the purpose of travel or business rather than study or training.
The total for the first half was $11.56 billion (approximately 1,726.1 billion yen), compared to $7.31 billion (approximately 1,091.5 billion yen) in the same period last year.
This was an increase of 58.1% compared to the previous year. On the other hand, the number of departures has increased even more explosively. A total of 9.331 million South Koreans departed to foreign countries in the first half of this year, an increase of 8.5 million from a year ago (1.35 million).
The number of people increased by 81,000, an increase rate of 635.6%. This is analyzed to be due to not only the endemic, but also the weaker yen in Japan, which is one of the major destinations.