Foreign tourists arrivals in South Korea are expected to surpass a record high of 17 million people this year on the back of a sharp increase in Chinese tourists, the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said.

    The number of foreign tourists to South Korea fell 6.8% on year in 2015, hit by the spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus.

    In the first 11 months of this year, the number of foreign tourists to South Korea jumped 31.2% on year, according to the ministry data. South Korea is expected to attract 8.04 million Chinese tourists this year, up 34.4% from last year. The number of Japanese tourists to South Korea is also expected to rise 24.8% on year to 2.29 million people this year.

    The number of Taiwanese tourists is forecast to surge 60.4% to 830,000, while about 650,000 Hong Kong tourists, up 23.7% on-year, are forecast to visit South Korea this year.

    According to the World Tourism Organization, international tourist arrivals around the world rose 4% on year in the first 9 months of this year. For the nine-month period, international tourist arrivals to South Korea jumped 36% on year. 

    This year, an increase in foreign tourist arrivals is likely to generate tourism-related revenues worth 19.4 trillion won and create about 374,000 tourism-related jobs, the ministry said.