South Korea was the most popular destination for overseas trips among Chinese tourists in the first half of this year.

The South Korean Embassy in China said Monday that one-point-54 million Chinese tourists visited South Korea between January and September.

The embassy said that South Korea was the most popular destination for Chinese tourists except for Hong Kong and Macao.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea has been rapidly increasing from 920-thousand in 2007, one million in 2008 and one-point-seven million in 2010. The figure is expected to top two million by the end of this year.

Visa issuance for Chinese tourists seeking to visit South Korea is also surging. About 811-thousand visas were issued during the first nine months of this year in South Korean diplomatic missions in Beijing, Shenyang, Shanghai and Xian, up 22 percent year-on-year.