Overseas spending by South Koreans last year on travel, including business trips, is estimated to have exceeded 20 billion U.S. dollars for the first time.
 
Bank of Korea data showed Saturday that expenditures on regular overseas travel between January and November of 2015 posted an all-time high of 19-point-35 billion dollars. 
 
Adding figures for December which are yet to be tallied, the annual amount is expected to top 20 billion dollars for the very first time.
 
Subsequently, the nation's tourism deficit has sharply widened to record five-point-48 billion dollars between January and November last year, or more than triple that of 2014.