More than nine million foreigners have visited South Korea this year.

The nation welcomed a Japanese tourist as this year’s nine millionth visitor at Incheon Airport on Thursday.

Over one million foreigners visited South Korea in 1978. The number jumped to five million in 2000 and eight-point-six million last year.

South Korea is predicted to draw 800-thousand more foreigners by year’s end, and the number of foreign tourists is expected to top 10 million in 2012.

Analysts attribute the surging number of foreign tourists to the huge popularity of Korean pop music and dramas overseas.