Tourists walk along the coast of Jeju Island on Sept. 22, 2022. (Yonhap)

The number of visitors to South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju has topped 10 million so far this year, recovering from a slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday.

The number of travelers, including those coming from overseas, to Jeju, one of the most favored travel destinations in South Korea, totaled 10,004,145 as of Monday, up 22.7 percent from a year ago, according to the data from the Jeju Tourism Association,

Last year, the 10-million milestone was reached on Nov. 8.

The tourism association said the eased virus curbs have triggered growing travel demand.

But a full-fledged recovery is still a long way off.

The number of visitors to Jeju stood at around 14.31 million in 2018, 15.29 million in 2019.

The annual tally dipped to 10.24 million in 2020, when the country confirmed the first local case of the COVID-19. Last year, the figure was some 12 million. (Yonhap)