South Koreans' overseas plastic card spending rose in double figures in 2023 on strong demand for overseas travel and foreign products, central bank data showed Thursday.
Using credit, debit and prepaid cards, domestic residents spent 19.22 billion U.S. dollars overseas in 2023, up 32.2 percent compared to the previous year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It continued to expand for the third consecutive year after tumbling in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Xinhua reported.
A surging number of local residents went abroad for travel in 2023 amid the increased online purchase of foreign products.
The number of outbound travelers totaled 22,720,000 in 2023, far higher than 6,550,000 in the previous year.
The direct overseas purchase through online shopping jumped 25.0 percent over the year to 5.17 billion dollars in 2023.
Overseas spending per plastic card gained 6.7 percent to 302 dollars last year.
The number of plastic cards used overseas was 63,563,000 in 2023, up 23.9 percent from a year earlier.
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