The amount of credit card spending by foreigners in Korea outweighed that by Koreans on overseas trips for the first time, central bank data showed Friday.

Credit card spending by foreigners reached US$3.27 billion in the third quarter, up 12.2 percent from three months earlier. In the same period, credit card spending by Koreans on overseas trips rose 7.6 percent on-quarter to $3.2 billion, according to the data by the Bank of Korea.

It marked the first time that credit card spending by foreigners beat that by Koreans on overseas trips since the central bank began compiling the data in 2001.

The reversal was credited to a rise in the number of tourists visiting South Korea. Some 4.05 million foreigners entered the country in the third quarter, up from 2.92 million at the end of last year, according to separate data by the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute.