Koreans Spend US$4.8 Billion Abroad with Cards

Card spending abroad by residents in the third quarter nearly reached US$4.8 billion, indicating a recovery to pre-COVID-19 levels, as overseas travel and direct online overseas purchases have increased. However, card spending by foreigners in Korea decreased, amounting to only half of overseas card spending.

According to the Bank of Korea’s report titled “Third Quarter Card Usage Abroad by Residents” released on Nov. 29, card spending abroad by residents during July to September was US$4.79 billion, a 3.1% increase from the US$4.65 billion in the second quarter and 25.6% higher than the US$3.81 billion in the same quarter last year.

The scale of direct online overseas purchases has remained high, maintaining levels of US$1.2 billion in the first quarter, US$1.24 billion in both the second and third quarters. This, coupled with the vacation season and increased demand for overseas travel, led to a significant rise in the number of Koreans traveling abroad. According to the Korean Culture and Tourism Institute’s Tourism Knowledge Information System, the number of Korean nationals traveling abroad in the third quarter was 6.26 million, a 26.5% increase from 4.95 million in the second quarter.

The third quarter card spending abroad (US$4.79 billion) is the highest in nearly four years since the fourth quarter of 2019, which recorded US$4.883 billion, and is on par with the third quarter of 2019 (US$4.79 billion). This indicates a return to pre-pandemic levels of overseas consumption.

In contrast, card usage in Korea by non-residents, including foreigners, decreased. In the third quarter, foreigners and other non-residents spent US$2.412 billion in Korea, a 3.3% decrease from US$2.495 billion in the second quarter but a 46.7% increase from US$1.644 billion in the same period last year. However, this represents a slowdown in growth and amounts to just over half the spending by residents abroad.