Published : Feb. 23, 2021 - 13:24
Duty-free stores at Terminal 1 of Incheon International Airport appear relatively empty on May 15, 2020. (Yonhap)
South Koreans' overseas card spending plummeted 46.1 percent on-year in 2020, hit by a sharp decline in the number of outbound travelers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Tuesday.
The amount of money spent overseas by South Koreans with cards, including credit and debit cards, totaled $10.31 billion last year, compared with $19.12 billion in 2019, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The number of outbound South Koreans plunged 85.1 percent on-year to 4.28 million last year.
In 2019, the number of outbound South Koreans stood at 28.71 million, according to the BOK. (Yonhap)