The number of South Korean travelers going overseas is expected to hit a three-year high in 2011 on the back of the rising availability of cheap tour packages and leisure time, government data showed Thursday.

A total of 11.97 million South Koreans left the country over the January-November period, up 1.8 percent from the same period last year, according to the data released by the Ministry of Justice.

Leading local travel agency Hanatour Service Inc. predicted that the tally will reach 13 million at the end of the year as 1 million tourists on average go abroad every month.

The number of overseas travelers peaked at 13.62 million in 2007, but declined to 9.8 million in 2009.

By destination, 37.3 percent of the local travelers headed to Southeast Asian countries this year and 31.2 percent chose China.

Those who went to Japan comprised 14.5 percent, down 11.8 percentage points from a year earlier due mainly to the massive earthquake in March.

Hanatour said it expects some 9.8 million foreign travelers will in turn visit South Korea in 2011.

“Demand for overseas trip continues to rise as the five-day workweek program settled and low-budget carriers expanded supply of airline seats,” said an official from Hanatour. 

(Yonhap News)