The monthly number of foreign tourists who visited South Korea exceeded one million in July for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and continued into October.

The Korea Tourism Organization(KTO) announced on Wednesday that October saw one-point-23 million overseas visitors come to the country, an increase of 158-point-three percent from last year.

By country, Japan had the largest number of visitors last month at 255-thousand, followed by China at 249-thousand and the United States at 116-thousand.

The cumulative number of foreign visitors from January to October this year came to eight-point-88 million, a 303-point-nine-percent increase over the same period last year.

The KTO cited loosened COVID-19 restrictions as the reason for a rebound in tourism.