Artists perform during a press preview of "Gwanghwamun Love Song" at Seoul's Links Arts Center on Oct. 29. (Yonhap)

Pandemic-era social distancing rules that once left theaters empty and concert halls silent are now a fading memory, with South Korea's performing arts sector reporting record-breaking revenue of 1.4 trillion won ($1.08 billion) in 2023, up 46 percent from the previous year.

The figure represents a 67 percent increase over 2019, before COVID-19 began to spread.

The numbers in the latest report released Thursday by the state-run Korea Arts Management Services paint a picture of an industry that's not just rebounding but breaking new ground.

Licensing and royalties saw the sharpest uptick, surging 186 percent. Entertainment management agencies were the primary beneficiaries of the return to normalcy, recording a 391 percent revenue increase compared to their smaller, grassroots counterparts, who saw a more modest 84 percent rise.

Venue rentals also performed strongly, with income up 80 percent. Ticket sales, rising 15.2 percent to reach 647 billion won ($498 million), remained the industry's biggest revenue source, accounting for 45.5 percent of total earnings.

The findings, based on an online survey of 5,667 performance organizations and venues conducted last summer, reveal just how far the industry has come since the worldwide pandemic brought the curtain down in 2020. That year saw revenues plummet to 395 billion won, a sharp dip from the pre-pandemic period when the sector typically pulled in around 800 billion won annually.

But the recovery has been swift. After restrictions on public gatherings were lifted in April 2022, the industry revenues not only returned to pre-pandemic levels, they pushed well beyond them.

The 2023 figures mark the first time revenue has topped the 1 trillion won threshold.