South Korea achieved record-high tourism income in September, due to an increase in the number of Chinese visitors, according to data by the Bank of Korea and the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute.

The nation’s total tourist income reached $1.76 billion last month, exceeding $1.7 billion for the first time and marking a 35 percent leap from the same period in the previous year. Also, related businesses turned net profits for the first time in 28 months.

The gain was mostly attributed to the growing number of Chinese tourists.

During the first nine months of the year, 4.68 million Chinese nationals visited Korea, nearly triple the number of Japanese visitors. Among them, 564,078 visited in September, accounting for 45.3 percent of all inbound travelers.

The monthly figure for October may turn out to be even higher, as a significant number of tourists visited during China’s National Day holidays from Oct. 1-7, KCTI officials said.

(tellme@heraldcorp.com)