South Koreans were found to have spent more than ten billion U.S. dollars on overseas travel this year.

According to the Bank of Korea and the Korea Tourism Organization Wednesday, around nine-and-a-half billion dollars was spent in overseas travels by South Koreans as of the end of last month, up more than 23 percent compared to the same period last year.

The figure is forecast to exceed ten billion dollars for the first time by the end of the year as spending on trips abroad has risen to a monthly average of nearly one billion dollars.

The central bank and the tourism organization added that more than eight-and-a-half million people had traveled abroad during the first ten months of this year.

Meanwhile, spending by foreign visitors to the nation slipped to four-point-four billion dollars as of the end of last month, down from the four-point-seven billion dollars posted during the same period last year.

The central bank and the tourism body said that the decrease in the figure signals the need for Seoul to come up with measures to promote travel in the nation, including establishing necessary tourism infrastructure.

[Photo : ]