The number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea last month rose more than 17 percent from a year earlier, with over 17 million arrivals for the January-November period this year.

According to data released by the Korea Tourism Organization on Tuesday, one-point-59 million foreign visitors entered the country in November, marking a 17-point-three percent increase from the same month last year.

The figure was also nine-point-six percent higher than in November 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

China accounted for the largest proportion of the foreign tourists with 378-thousand visitors, followed by Japan with 363-thousand, Taiwan with 158-thousand, the United States with 133-thousand and the Philippines with 60-thousand.

From January through November, a total of 17-point-42 million foreign tourists visited South Korea, up 15-point-four percent from a year earlier and eight-point-six percent from 2019.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism predicts that inbound tourism will exceed 18-point-seven million for the full year, setting a new all-time high and surpassing the previous record of 17-point-five million set in 2019.