The number of foreign tourists to South Korea jumped six-point-nine percent year-on-year to over seven million in the first half of this year.

The Tourism Ministry and the Korea Tourism Organization(KTO) said Monday that seven-point-two million foreign tourists visited the country from January to June, up from six-point-75 million tourists in the same period of 2017. 

Excluding Chinese tourists, the figure posted an all-time high of over five million, a rise of more than 12 percent from the same period last year.

Two-point-17 million Chinese people visited Korea during the first six months of 2018, down by three-point-seven percent on-year.

The number of Chinese tourists had plunged more than 30 percent year-on-year during the first quarter. However, this shifted to positive growth of over 51 percent in the second quarter to almost offset the first-quarter drop.

A KTO official said that tourism growth in the first half is attributed to a number of factors, including eased geopolitical tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the growing popularity of Korean cuisine and the effects of government policy to diversify the domestic tourism market from its focus on China.