South Korea’s tourism account netted a surplus for the first time in nine years.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said in a report that the nation posted a tourism surplus of 55 million U.S. dollars last year.

It is the first time the nation posted a tourism surplus since 2000.

The number of inbound foreign tourists grew 13-point-four percent to more than seven-point-eight million while the number of South Korean people who went overseas dropped nearly 21 percent to about nine-point-five million.