The number of tourists visiting South Korea via cruise ship was up this year for the first time since Beijing retaliated against the deployment of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system on the Korean Peninsula three years ago.

According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the domestic tourism industry on Monday, some 249-thousand foreign tourists arrived in the country on cruise ships between January and October this year. 

The number is higher than last year's total of 202-thousand.

While the number of cruise tourists approached the two-million mark with some one-point-six million in 2016, the sudden decline in Chinese tourists forced that number down to below 40-thousand in 2017.

The latest sign of recovery comes after the local industry expanded its marketing and operations to Japan and Taiwan.

The number of cruise tourists from Japan, which stood in the 30-thousand range in 2016, gradually increased and the ministry expects the number to surpass 100-thousand by the end of this year.

The number of cruise tourists from Taiwan was zero until 2016 before logging 40-thousand for the January-October period of this year.