South Korea has posted the largest deficit in its travel account since 2007.
 
According to the tourism industry and the Bank of Korea, the nation’s travel account deficit was tallied at over three-point-seven billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of this year.
 
The deficit is even larger than that recorded in the third quarter of 2015, when South Korea was hit by a tourism slump, as the number of inbound foreign tourists dropped by nearly 40 percent due to the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
 
Analysis shows that the ten-year record deficit is due to a fall in the number of Chinese tourists in March amid China’s continuing retaliation over the U.S.' THAAD antimissile system deployment.
 
In contrast, more South Korean people went on overseas trips during the period.
 
The number of outbound South Korean travelers stood at more than six-point-five million, while the number of inbound foreign tourists came to some three-point-seven million.
 
The travel account deficit is predicted to continue throughout the first half of this year.