Why Americans Now Visit Korea for Korea Itself

A pattern keeps showing up in our bookings at Himedi. More American clients are tacking Busan or Jeju — two of Korea's most popular leisure destinations — onto trips that used to stop at Seoul and the hospital. The shift stands out to me because I have a pandemic-era baseline to compare against: back then, most Americans coming to Korea were either Korean Americans visiting friends and family, or travelers here for business or study.

I checked whether this was a real shift or just our own bookings. It is. 1.48 million Americans visited Korea in 2025, up from 1.32 million in 2024 — both records. But volume isn't really the story. The story is why they're coming.

The Crossover: Leisure Overtook Business

In 2019, leisure (36.7%) and business (36.8%) were tied as the top reasons U.S. visitors came to Korea, according to Korea's Foreign Visitor Survey. By 2024, the gap had opened to more than 15 percentage points: leisure 43.9%, business 28.3%. Preliminary 2025 Q4 data shows leisure climbing further, to 46.7%.

What's underneath the percentages is the more striking part. Total U.S. visitors to Korea grew from 1.04M in 2019 to 1.48M in 2025 — but almost all of that growth came from leisure travelers. Looking at 2019 → 2024 (the most recent year with full annual KCTI breakdown data):

• Leisure travelers: ≈383K → 580K (+51%)
• Business travelers: ≈384K → 374K (−3%, essentially flat)

Today's American visitor stays an average of 8.8 days, travels solo (95.8% FIT), and spends about $3,311 per trip including airfare. They came for the food, the music, the streets — for Korea itself.

What Has Driven the Shift

Several changes occurred together. Korean culture became broadly familiar to American audiences through Parasite, Squid Game, BTS, and BLACKPINK. Direct nonstop flight capacity from the U.S. to Incheon expanded to about a dozen cities. And the U.S. dollar gained roughly 20% against the won between 2019 and 2025, lowering the dollar cost of a Korea trip relative to a decade earlier.

If you are traveling to Korea for any of these reasons, it is worth considering a health checkup while you are here. In the U.S., a full-body checkup is a significant undertaking — multiple appointments, scheduling, follow-ups. In Korea, the same examination can be completed in a single morning, starting at $300. The value of catching something early is hard to put a price on, in either dollars or hours.

If this is of interest, reach out to us at Himedi.

About the Author

Donkyo Seo
Co-founder & CEO, Himedi

For the past 9 years, Donkyo has helped international patients navigate Korean healthcare. Himedi is licensed by Korea's Ministry of Health & Welfare (License #A-2016-01-01-2345). 

Sources

• Korea Culture & Tourism Institute (KCTI) — Foreign Visitor Survey annual reports (2019, 2022, 2023, 2024) and 2025 Q4 Preliminary Report — primary source for purpose-of-visit time series
• Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) Data Lab — country-level visitor counts (datalab.visitkorea.or.kr)
• Korea Tourism Organization — 2025 Annual Tourism Statistics (Preliminary, December 2025 release): 1.48M U.S. visitors, 18.94M total international visitors