The workforce of major South Korean travel agencies has nearly halved over the past three years due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the number of tour firms also plummeting, industry data showed.

The headcount of industry leader Hana Tour came to 1,204 as of the end of September this year, down 52.3 percent from three years earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

Smaller industry players were also forced to furlough their employees or cut jobs in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak that put a lid on overseas tour programs.

No. 2 player Modetour Network's payroll plunged 47.4 percent to 617 over the cited period.

Their job cuts came as those tour agencies were hit hard by the pandemic that left them deep in the red due to near-zero demand for overseas travel. (Yonhap)