Some 210-thousand people visited South Korea last year for tourism, accounting for just one-point-five percent of what it was prior to the pandemic.

According to the Korea Tourism Organization(KTO) Wednesday, the number of tourists to the nation was down from the 14-point-four million visitors in 2019 prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also 13 percent of the figure reached in 2020.

By nationality, Americans accounted for the largest number at some 70-thousand, followed by Filipinos, Indonesians and Chinese. 

The number of tourists to South Korea last year accounted for about 22 percent of all overseas visitors, which stood at 967-thousand.

Other than tourism, foreigners were found to have come to South Korea for business, studies or due to jobs in the aviation or shipping industries.

The KTO added the number of flight attendants and crew members of ships totaled around 434-thousand, more than double the number of tourism-related overseas visitors.